


Retribution.

by steeleye



Series: Military Faith. [10]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Deathwish - Fandom, L&O SVU
Genre: Crime Fighting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-24 15:11:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9767564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steeleye/pseuds/steeleye
Summary: A ‘Law and Order SVU’/‘Death Wish’ xover and ‘Military Faith’ spin-off story; a young slayer is on the loose in New York City looking for vengeance.





	1. Chapter 1

Retribution.

By Steeleye.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ‘Death Wish’ and ‘Law and Order SVU’, I write these stories for fun not profit.

 **Crossover:** BtVS, Law and Order SVU and the film Death Wish.

 **Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar:** Written in glorious UK-English which is different to US-English.

 **Timeline:** Takes place after the events depicted in ‘Bright College Days’.

 **Words:** Eight chapters of 2500+ words.

 **Warnings:** None.

 **Summary:** A ‘Law and Order SVU’/‘Death Wish’ xover and ‘Military Faith’ spin-off story; a young slayer is on the loose in New York City looking for vengeance.

0=0=0=0

**Introduction.**

**Sunnydale High School Library, May 1998.**

Waiting in the shadows of the Sunnydale High School’s library, Mr Grey knew he’d have to intervene within the next few minutes. Any second now the young slayer would break the ‘thrall’ the female vampire had put on her. When she did she’d hit the vampire Drusilla so hard under the chin that the vampire’s head would snap back, her neck would break and she’d be turned to grave dust. If that happened the client would be very disappointed and Mr Grey would not collect his fee.

It wasn’t that the client cared what happened to the vampire or indeed the slayer, one had to die; there seemed to be no other way for the contract to be completed successfully. Kendra Young had to die so that Faith Lehane would be called as her replacement. You see Mr Grey dealt in ‘futures’, Miss Young could die here and be moved sideways to a new future where she could live out her life doing some useful work…but only if he acted in the next couple of seconds.

Waving his hand and bringing time to a halt, Mr Grey stepped out of the shadows.

“Good evening, Miss Young,” Mr Grey greeted the astonished young slayer in a kind, fatherly voice, “in a few moments you will be dead, but I can make sure that you don’t die in vain, that your death has some meaning…but only if you do exactly what I tell you to…”

Several minutes or half a fraction of a microsecond later, Mr Grey and the spirit of Kendra Young watched as her earthly body was killed by the vampire. Hiding a smile, Mr Grey knew that right at that moment Faith Lehane was coming into her powers in Boston. Turning to Kendra he noted the tears that ran down her face and for a second he felt just a twinge of regret at what he had done. But, the girl would go on to a new life in a new reality where she should be able to live a full and happy life and maybe even help to save the world, or indeed worlds.

“I’m so sorry,” Mr Grey placed a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder, “but its time for you to go now…” Mr Grey smiled, “…it just remains for me to wish you good luck in your new life, Miss Young.”

0=0=0=0

_It was a really nice night for a good street fight or a robbery,  
But I always knew in my home town that would never happen to me.  
I kept walking around trying to make up a sound 'bout what it's like to be,  
In the city of light on a rag time night, it's something more than free.  
In good old..._

_New York, New York, so good they named it twice,  
New York, New York, all the scandal and the vice, I love it!  
New York, New York, now isn't it a pity…  
What they say about New York City.*_

*: New York, New York (so good they named it twice), by Gerard Kenny.

0=0=0=0

**New York City, February 2009.**

Stepping out of the car, Detective Benson turned up her collar against the freezing rain that fell from a cold, dark, night sky; she shivered as she turned towards the apartment building on the other side of the street.

“Nice place,” Benson observed as her partner, Detective Stabler, joined her on the wind and rain swept street.

“Yeah,” Stabler agreed with a nod, “the rent’s probably more than both of us earn in a month,” he shrugged under his heavy overcoat, “come on lets get in out of the cold.”

Trotting across the road the two detectives flashed their shields to the cold and miserable looking uniformed officer guarding the door and went inside. Stepping into the expensive looking lobby, Stabler glanced around and reassessed his estimate of how much the rent on the apartments would be. Judging by the décor alone the place probably cost more than both he and Olivia earnt in a year. Unsure of where they were supposed to go next, Olivia turned from watching a patrolman questioning the uniformed night porter to looking for the elevator.

“Here,” Olivia pointed to where an elevator door opened to reveal another uniformed cop.

“SVU?” the patrolman asked.

“That’s us,” Stabler replied as he raised an eyebrow at Olivia, they'd been expected.

Pressing the button for the eighth floor the patrolman took the two SVU detectives up to the crime scene.

“What’s it look like up there?” Elliot Stabler engaged the patrolman in friendly conversation.

“Didn’t see much,” the patrolman, a veteran cop by the looks of things, admitted, “but it looked like a bad one, young girl and her mom, both dead.”

Again Elliot and Olivia exchanged looks as the elevator glided to a halt and the doors slid silently open.

0=0=0=0

In comparison to the quiet of the lobby, the corridor outside the apartment where the crime had been committed was a hive of activity. Uniformed officers went up and down the carpeted passageway as they headed out to canvass the rest of the block and CSU techs flashed cameras or collected evidence.

Showing their shields to the cop on the door, Elliot and Olivia walked into the apartment. What they saw was a large, comfortably furnished apartment with a huge picture window taking up one wall and looking out over the New York city-scape. This was someone’s home, they both decided, not the apartment of someone who only came here to sleep or used it to impress their friends or business clients. No, this was a home, someone had loved this place, Stabler moved to pick up a photograph from where it had been tossed on the floor.

It showed an attractive woman, in her early forties (probably the mother) and two girls, one in her teens the other about nine or ten years old. The glass that protected the picture had been cracked when it had been knocked onto the floor. Setting the picture down carefully on the shelf where it had probably rested, Elliot turned to survey the rest of the room. Everything was in disorder, furniture had been over turned, pictures and knick-knacks had been scattered across the floor and spray painted gang tags disfigured the walls.

“Detectives Benson and Stabler?” the two SVU detectives turned to see a harassed older looking man in a grubby raincoat make his way across the room towards them, “Detective Frank Ochoa,” he shook hands with Benson and Stabler, “nasty one this glad you people are here to take it off of my hands.” Ochoa wiped at his noise with a screwed up handkerchief, he appeared to have a bad cold. “Come on I’ll show you the victims.”

Leading Benson and Stabler across the living room, Ochoa turned down a corridor with several doors leading off it and went into the room at the end.

“This is the mother’s bedroom,” Ochoa explained as the three detectives squeezed into the room passed all the CSU guys; the detective gestured to the two bodies on the bed. “Mrs Paula Kersey, forty-three and her daughter Carol, twelve.”

Letting her eyes rest on the two bodies, Olivia saw that they’d both been bound, spread eagled on the bed, with duct tape. Wide strips of tape had been stuck across their mouths to cut off their screams. Both victims had been beaten and raped before they were killed by having their throats cut.

“We think the perp or perps came in through the service door at the rear of the building earlier this evening,” Ochoa explained, “we found spray paint on the stairwell walls that the night porter says wasn’t there yesterday.” Detective Ochoa sniffed and wiped his nose again. “Whoever they were, Mrs Kersey let them in. There was no sign of forced entry and we found some shopping from a local market just outside the apartment door. Once they were inside they wrecked the place and did this,” Ochoa gestured to the bodies on the bed, “do you mind if we cover them up now?”

“What?” Elliot had been lost in his own thoughts on what kind of animals could have done this, he turned to Olivia, “You seen enough?”

“For now,” Olivia nodded.

“Yeah cover them up,” Elliot nodded, obviously Ochoa was an old fashioned cop, he cared even when the victims were beyond caring.

“We saw a photograph of another girl, any sign…?” Olivia asked but Ochoa was a step ahead of her.

“That’ll be Zoe Kersey,” once more Ochoa dabbed at his nose with his damp handkerchief, “eighteen, she’s a student at St Agnes’, I’ve got men out looking for her; there’s no evidence to believe she was in the apartment when the attack took place.”

“We’ll need to talk to her as soon as your men find her,” Olivia said as she moved carefully around the room.

“Don’t worry you will,” Ochoa nodded his head, “I’ll make sure all the forensics and witness statements are sent over to your office as soon as possible…”

“Where there any fluids?” Olivia asked one of the CSU techs hopefully.

“Not that we found,” replied the tech, “perps probably used condoms…maybe your ME can find something.”

“Yeah maybe,” Olivia nodded her head in thanks to the tech; it would have been too easy if the perps had left DNA evidence behind and for them to already be on record.

“If there’s nothing else detectives?” Ochoa asked.

“No that’s fine, thanks,” Elliot muttered as he noticed something shiny half hidden under the bed, he bent to look at it.

“Found something?” Ochoa asked.

“Someone give me a glove,” Elliot called as he knelt over the object; someone passed him a latex glove, “looks like a cigarette lighter.”

Carefully picking up the lighter with the latex glove, Elliot put it in the evidence bag held out to him by Olivia.

“No ashtrays in sight,” Olivia observed, “no smell of tobacco, I’m guessing this didn’t belong to anyone here.”

“One of the perps?” Ochoa asked as he moved in to look at the evidence and sneezed, “Excuse me,” he wiped his nose again.

“Looks like some sort of badge,” Elliot pointed to the lighter.

The lighter was a simple silver coloured Zippo model; the only thing marking it as unique was the military style crest on one side. Looking closely, Elliot saw a red circle with some sort of demonic face in the middle and a red line across the demon’s face like a road sign indicating that demons weren’t allowed. Under the badge was a scroll with the legend, ‘613th Rangers’ on it.

“Recognise it?” Olivia asked Elliot.

“No,” the big detective shook his head, “I was a Marine, Rangers are army.”

“Any sign of a Mr Kersey?” Olivia asked Ochoa.

“I’d say not but we haven’t been looking,” Ochoa admitted he saw the look on Olivia face and added, “but we’ll start now.”

“Could have dropped out of the perp’s pocket,” Olivia mused, “or it might have belonged to an absent Mr Kersey.”

“A vet maybe?” Elliot speculated.

“Or dead and that’s a keep sake,” suggested Olivia.

“If it does belong to a Mr Kersey, I hope he is dead and not out on operations somewhere,” Elliot looked down into Olivia’s eyes, “imagine coming home from Iraq and finding someone has done this to your family.”

0=0=0=0

**A cold, wet alley somewhere in NYC.**

Stumbling as she ran, the girl turned into the alley and weaved her way between the trash filled dumpsters. The pavement was slick beneath her feet with a mixture of rain and ice, but that didn’t slow the vampire who was following her down one little bit. Turning off the main street the vampire followed the girl into the alley, he laughed as he did so. He laughed because he knew that this alley was a dead end, with the emphasis on ‘dead’. He also laughed because he was an evil, bloodsucking fiend of the night and well, it was sort of traditional to laugh as you cornered your victim.

Running up to the end of the alley the girl stopped and looked up at the walls that blocked her way out. Not even bothering to try and climb over them, she turned to face the monster that had been chasing her ever since she’d left school that evening. Silently she cursed her luck; she’d been at cheerleading practice after which she’d got talking to her friends once the practice session was over and she’d lost track of time. Then when she’d tried to call her mom on her cell to say she’d be late, she’d found that her cellphone’s battery was dead.

Hurrying home, knowing that her mother would be frantic, she’d not noticed the monster that was following her. When she had, she’d started to run, but not too fast; she’d also run away from bright lights and people, the vampire had been too hungry or too stupid to notice. Turning to face her pursuer Zoe plastered a terrified look on her face that just screamed ‘eat me’! The vampire walked slowly towards her chuckling quietly as he did so.

“Hey,” he smirked, “I bet ya all hot and sweaty and the blood's just pumpin’ round ya body.”

“Gross!” Zoe replied as the vampire moved into her ‘kill zone’, “Sucker!”

Lashing out with the stake that she’d hidden up her sleeve, Zoe watched as the vamp turned into surprised, mud-like ash at her feet.

“Yay me!” Zoe cheered quietly, “Zoe the Vampire Slayer, one…fiends of the night nil!” 

Retrieving her stake, Zoe slipped it back up her sleeve, she checked left and right just to make sure there were no more vamps about or people that might have seen her slay the bloodsucker. Satisfied that she was alone, Zoe walked back out onto the road, paused to get her bearings and turned to head for home. As she walked, she glanced at her watch and gasped at the time. Her mom would be hysterical with worry, even knowing what her daughter was and what she could do (Miss Kennedy insisted there were no secrets from parents) she still worried if Zoe was out late and hadn’t called home.

The thought of Miss Kennedy reminded Zoe that she’d need to put in a report about the vamp; the leader of the New York Slayers didn’t demand written reports, a verbal report left on the office voice-mail or an e-mail would do. But she did expect timely reports so that the number of monsters seen and slain could be collated and tracked. Once Zoe got home and after calming her mom down she’d need to spend five minutes on her laptop and e-mail her ‘vamp report’ in.

Turning onto her street, Zoe saw the first of the police cars parked in the street. Quickening her pace she saw an ambulance and a coroners van in between the patrol cars. Realising that all the cops and people in white coveralls were going in and out of her building, Zoe started to run. Sliding to halt in front of the cop guarding the entrance to her building, Zoe demanded to know what was going on.

“Sorry miss but you can’t go in,” said the cop as he clutched his clipboard and stood behind the wooden barrier that blocked Zoe’s path into the lobby.

“But I’ve got to,” Zoe felt like screaming but she didn’t; it would do no good and Miss Kennedy was always saying that cops were their friends and you got further with them if you were calm and reasonable.

“Look,” Zoe started again after taking a deep breath to slow her racing heart, “I live here, my mom will be frantic I’m already late.”

“You live here?” the cop frowned down at her, “Can I have your name please?”

“Zoe, Zoe Kersey,” Zoe smiled at the cop; Miss Kennedy was right, all you had to do was be calm and reasonable and….

Zoe noticed the frown on the patrolman’s face, she could sense there was something wrong.

“Could you wait one moment, Miss Ker…!” the officer fell as Zoe pushed him out of the way.

Racing into the lobby, Zoe registered all the other cops, George the night porter standing to one side looking upset. Easily pushing the cops who tried to stop her to one side, she got to the elevator just in time to see it open and a big male detective walk out, followed by a man in a white coverall pushing a sheet draped gurney. The detective tried to stop her but she pushed him out of her way sending him stumbling across the lobby to trip over a potted palm that crashed to the floor. Staring at the sheet covered body, Zoe just knew it was her mother, perhaps it was one of her weird slayer senses, perhaps she just ‘knew’. Reaching towards the sheet, Zoe became aware of another detective in the lift with her this time a woman.

“Don’t,” the detective said gently, “at least not until she’s been cleaned up, you’re Zoe right?”

Olivia recognised the girl from the photograph in he apartment.

“But I’ve got to,” Zoe replied as she took hold of the sheet, “I have to know…”

Pulling back the sheet and exposing her mother’s once beautiful face, Zoe felt her entire world collapse around her. To hell with being calm and reasonable, she thought just before she started to wail and sink to the floor of the elevator. Registering the detective’s arms around her as she tried to comfort her, Zoe promised herself that whoever or whatever had done this to her mother would pay. It was just then that she remembered her little sister had been at home tonight.

“Carol?” Zoe said between her sobs.

“I’m sorry,” the female detective shook her head as she hugged her tightly.

0=0=0=0

**Author’s Note:** As this is a 'Military Faith' spin-off story I should point out that Faith and Willow only appear in chapter three. You can assume that Faith is finishing the criminology course that she started while at Faber College and Willow is in the process of moving house to Grandview in New York State. 


	2. Chapter 2

2.

**16th Precinct SVU Squad room, two days after the Kersey murders.**

“How are you feeling this morning,” Olivia asked solicitously as she entered the interview room.

“How are you supposed to feel when you’ve had your family raped and murdered,” Zoe shot back.

The anger and pain in the girl’s voice made Olivia pause for a moment, Zoe Kersey was hurting that was for sure, who wouldn’t be in her situation? But there was something else there, something that made Olivia feel uneasy; she’d seen it in the eyes of other family members who’d had their relatives brutally murdered and it never ended well.

“I expect you feel, hurt, angry, frustrated…guilty?” Olivia pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Yes I feel angry,” Zoe replied in a softer voice, “but that’s no reason to snap at you, you’re just trying to help…so, what can I do for you, Detective Benson?”

“Oh I just have a few questions I need to ask,” Olivia smiled reassuringly, “it won’t take long…do you want anything before we start, coffee? A glass of water?”

“No I’m fine,” there was an edge to Zoe’s voice again, “lets get this done.”

Noticing the sharpness in the girl’s voice, Olivia nodded; obviously Zoe was the kind of girl that wanted to get straight down to business, she’d oblige.

“Okay,” Olivia opened the note book she’d been carrying, “we’ve found no evidence of a Mr Kersey in the apartment, can you tell me where your father is?”

“Arlington military cemetery,” Zoe replied with a soft sigh, “he was killed not long after Carol was born.”

“Army?” Olivia’s hand strayed down to feel the lighter in her pocket.

“Yeah,” Zoe nodded, “the penniless soldier-boy who married the heiress,” for a moment a smile lit up her face, but it soon disappeared, “My father was an army officer he commanded a medical unit…”

“A doctor?” Olivia asked.

“No,” Zoe shook her head, “he was on the admin side, I don’t really remember much about him or what he actually did.”

“Don’t worry,” Olivia reassured her, “we can contact the army if we need to know more, so it was your mother that had the money in the family?”

“Yeah, old money,” Zoe explained and smiled, “slaves, cotton and molasses,” she looked at the expression on Olivia’s face, “something my mother used to say to explain where the family fortune had come from, old money y’know?”

“Is there anyone who’d benefit from your mother’s death?” Olivia wanted to know.

“Only me,” Zoe replied with a shrug, “there were only the three of us left you see, the last of my mother’s relatives died a couple of years ago and I couldn’t tell you anything about my father’s side of the family.” Zoe paused for a moment, “Yeah, so I admit it; I had my mother and my little sister raped and murdered so I could get my hands on the family fortune…”

“Not really,” Olivia pointed out.

“No, not really,” Zoe gave a long, low sigh, “I have a trust fund that will last me until after I finish college then the idea was that I'd go out to work. Mom didn’t believe in the whole ‘idle rich kid’ thing.”

“So, no one other than you would benefit from your mother’s death?” Olivia reconfirmed.

“Not to my knowledge,” Zoe replied.

“How about people with grudges?” Olivia asked, “Disgruntled employees, an ex-lover anyone like that?”

“Wow!” Zoe gave a bitter laugh, “Ex-lovers, huh? Sorry to disappoint, Detective but my mother lived quietly splitting her time between several charities that she worked for…she liked to keep busy. If she had any ex-lovers I didn’t know about them.”

“Okay,” Olivia looked at the sparse notes she’d made, “if you think of anything…”

“I’ll let you know,” Zoe looked at the door indicating she really didn’t want to be there any more. “Was there anything else?”

“Just one last thing,” Olivia reached into her jacket pocket and brought out the evidence bag containing the lighter, she laid it on the table in front of Zoe, “have you ever seen this before?”

Picking up the evidence bag, Zoe studied the lighter carefully.

“Never seen it before in my life, Detective,” Zoe put the bag and lighter down on the desk and slid it back towards Olivia.

“You’re sure?” Olivia wanted to know.

“Again, unless my mother kept it hidden somewhere, I’ve never set eyes on it before,” Zoe’s eyes remained locked on the lighter until Olivia put it back into her pocket.

“Not a keepsake from your father?” Olivia hinted.

“Not to my knowledge,” Zoe replied.

“Okay, that’s all for now,” Olivia stood up indicating the interview was over, “if you remember anything, however small contact me or Detective Stabler.”

“I’ll do that,” Zoe confirmed, “I want to see these sick bastards caught and punished for what they did to Mom and Carol.” Zoe paused as she moved towards the door, “Honestly Detective Benson, do you think you’ll catch them or him?”

“We’ll try our best,” Olivia shrugged, “we have some good solid clues…”

“I can tell by your tone of voice and body language that you have clues but no suspects,” Zoe resumed her walk towards the door, “you can tell me detective, I’m a big girl just how confident are you of catching whoever did this?”

“It’s still early days,” Olivia hedged.

“Which translates to ‘not much’,” Zoe shook her head sadly as she rested her hand on the back of a chair. “I don’t blame you or your colleagues, you can only work with what you’ve got, I’m betting that any finger prints your CSU guys found aren’t in the system…”

“Ms Kersey,” Olivia said in her professional voice, “we will keep looking, however long it takes…”

“Yes I know you will,” Zoe walked out into the squad room with Olivia at her heels.

“Have you anywhere to stay?” Olivia asked.

“Yes,” Zoe nodded, “I have friends I can stay with, erm…” Zoe looked uncertain, “…I’m thinking of leaving town for a day or two will that be a problem?”

“No…” Olivia replied uncertainly, “…don’t you want to…?”

“Here’s my lawyer’s card,” Zoe passed Olivia a business card, “if you need me for anything he’ll be able to contact me and you should contact him when you release Mom and Carol’s bodies for burial.”

“Okay,” Olivia took the card and glanced at the name of the law firm; she didn’t recognise it so she guessed it was a firm that specialised in business law not criminal, “I’ll keep in touch.”

“Thank-you,” Zoe shook Olivia’s hand and walked across the busy office, through the doors and down the stairs until she was once again out on the busy New York streets.

“How’d it go?” asked the well dressed young woman who was waiting on the sidewalk under an umbrella.

“Okay I suppose,” Zoe shrugged, “it’s fairly obvious they’ve no idea who did it.”

“Whatever,” Kennedy pulled Zoe under the shelter of her umbrella, “lets get out of the rain,” waving her hand in the air she flagged down a passing cab; opening the door for Zoe she let her climb in before joining her on the back-seat, “we’ll find whoever did this Zoe,” Kennedy reassured her before turning to the driver and telling him to take them home.

“The police have finger prints, but I can tell they’re no closer to finding whoever did this than they were the night of the murders,” Zoe explained bitterly.

“Give them time,” Kennedy tried to comfort the younger woman.

“Thanks, Miss Kennedy,” Zoe smiled at the woman beside her.

“Think nothing of it,” Kennedy smiled, “one for all and all for one, that’s what I always say.”

“All the same,” Zoe reiterated, “there is one clue the police have that we might find useful.”

“What’s that?” Kennedy wanted to know.

“The police found a lighter in my mom’s bedroom,” Zoe explained, “it wasn’t my mom’s and I don’t remember ever seeing it before so it probably belongs to the perp.”

“Okay,” Kennedy nodded, “anything special about it?”

“Yeah it had one of those military badge things on it,” Zoe said slowly, “what do you know about the 613th Rangers?”

“Nothing,” Kennedy admitted, “but I bet we can find out.”

0=0=0=0

“Never guess who I saw get into a cab with Zoe Kersey,” Detective Tutuola asked as he walked into the squad room.

“Who?” Elliot asked as he looked up from his computer screen.

“That society girl…” Tutuola frowned as he tried to remember the young woman’s name, “…y’know?”

‘Fin’ Tutuola was met by the blank stares of his colleagues, he caught a glimpse of President Kennedy’s picture that Munch kept on his desk and it jogged his memory.. 

“That’s it!” Fin snapped his fingers, “Kennedy what’s-her-name!”

“Kennedy who?” Olivia asked with a smile.

“That rich society girl with a conscience,” Detective Munch announced as he joined the group, “family lives in the Hamptons but she has an apartment in Kings Towers,” there were impressed whistles from both Fin and Elliot; Kings Towers was very exclusive. “When she’s not attending gala openings she finances and helps run a shelter for teenage runaways.”

“Well Zoe did say she had friends to stay with,” Olivia observed, “they’re both from well-off families so I’m not surprised they know each other.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Munch admitted not finding anything suspicious in the fact that two young, attractive, rich women knew each other; in fact it’d be more suspicious if they didn’t!

“Okay did you find out anything new from Zoe?” Elliot asked his partner.

“Nothing,” Olivia shook her head sadly, “couldn’t think of anyone who’d want her mother dead or who would profit by her death.”

“It’s beginning to look like a crime of opportunity,” Munch, who didn’t believe in coincidences, announced. “I checked on the groceries that was found outside the door to the apartment, they were stolen from a market just down the block from the Kersey’s apartment.” Munch checked some details in his note book, “Mrs Kersey phoned in an order to the market who made it up, but it was stolen before their delivery boy could take it around to the Kersey’s place this would be about six o’clock on the night of the murders.”

“Time of death was between eight and nine,” Fin muttered.

“Gives the perp or perps time to grab the shopping, check the address then go ‘round to the apartment,” Olivia speculated.

“The perp gains access through the service entrance at the back, goes up to the eighth floor…” Elliot continued the line of thinking.

“…and Mrs Kersey opens the door to who she thinks is the delivery boy,” Olivia finished Elliot’s sentence for him.

“Sounds like a viable timeline,” Munch agreed.

“Any luck on that lighter you found?” Olivia asked Elliot.

“Nothing,” Elliot shook his head, “there is a unit called the 613th Independent Ranger Battalion stationed up at Fort Drum, they’re part of 10th Mountain Division, but other than that nothing, can’t even find a unit badge.”

“613th Rangers?” Munch asked slowly.

“Wadda ya know, Munch?” Fin asked ready to hear Munch’s latest conspiracy theory.

“Rumour has it that the 613th is mixed up in some very strange things…” Munch began.

“Like?” Elliot asked.

“I’m not sure,” Munch admitted, “but people in the know say they’re into some ‘very’ black ops, ever heard of the Human Resources Initiative?”

Elliot, Olivia and Fin exchanged knowing glances.

“Whatever,” Munch continued unconcerned by his colleague’s scepticism, “they’re said to work closely with ASID, the Army Special Investigation Division, it’s an off shoot of the army’s Criminal Investigation Division.”

“Apparently,” Olivia said slowly not wishing to admit that Munch might be on to something, “about twelve years ago Mr Kersey was killed or died while he was commanding an Army Medical unit, so there could be a military connection here.”

“Better check,” Elliot agreed as he reached for the phone.

“I’m betting you’ll get nowhere,” Munch said quietly, “this unit is seriously secret, they’ll just stone wall you until you get bored and go away.”

“Look I can try through a few of my old Marine buddies,” Elliot suggested, “the special ops community is pretty small they might know something about these guys even if they are army.”

0=0=0=0

**Later that night.**

Turning up the collar of her jacket against the chill, damp air that blew in from the river, Zoe walked along the deserted street as she headed for her bed. She’d gone out on patrol in the hopes of finding a vamp to take her frustrations out on, unusually she’d found nothing to fight. Normally there were enough vampires and demons in New York City to keep New York’s twelve active slayers busy on most nights, but not, it seemed, tonight.

Heading back to Miss Kennedy’s apartment where she was staying until she could move back into her own apartment, Zoe found herself thinking about what she was going to do with the rest of her life now her mom and sister were dead. Up until the murder, Zoe had always thought she’d finish school then go off to college, she’d picked out several that she liked the look of. After college she thought she’d like to have a job in a photographic studio or something; she enjoyed photography and was good at it.

But now…now she wasn’t so sure. Spending her life taking pictures of pouty, thin girls didn’t seem like so much fun anymore. While she’d known that she’d have to spend at least some of her life slaying she’d never thought of it as a career. However, since her mother and sister had been killed she’d been thinking about being a full time slayer more and more. Of course the Reformed Watcher’s Council would insist that she finished her education first, but a career as a full time slayer didn’t seem so bad now, she’d do more good as a slayer than as a photographer. Finding she’d sort of let her mind drift away on thoughts of her future life, Zoe was a little disorientated when she popped back into the world of the now. 

“Fine slayer you’ll make letting your mind wonder like that,” she told herself.

Looking up and down the street, Zoe soon found her bearings and smiled, she wasn’t too far off her course. If she went down to the end of the street and turned right it was a ten minute walk to Miss Kennedy’s apartment where she was staying. Shivering slightly in the cold, wet air, Zoe hurried on with thoughts of a hot shower and a snug bed at the forefront in her mind. Coming level with a small park, Zoe hesitated before coming to a halt and facing the darkened little area of grass and bushes.

Although there was maybe one lamppost to illuminated the area, Zoe had no difficulty sweeping the area with her eyes, after all she could see perfectly well in the dark it was part of the ‘slayer package’. She saw a few benches around a small play area with its swings and slides, everywhere looked deserted, no one and nothing was hiding in the bushes that she could see; so, with a sad sigh she turned to continue her journey towards her bed. Not having taken more than a couple of steps, Zoe froze at he sound of a cry; coming to a halt she turned to face the park again and listened very carefully. Another yelp of pain was punctuated by the familiar sound of fists hitting flesh. 

“Maybe the vamps are out tonight after all,” Zoe smiled as she moved cautiously towards the noise.

As she got closer it sounded as if someone was getting a really good beating. Working around a large shrub, she started to be able to pick out the voices; two younger voices and one older, all male. Stepping silently out into the open, Zoe saw what was going on. Two youths, probably in their late teens were beating on this old guy and demanding that he hand over his money. The old guy appeared determined to hold onto his cash even if this meant that he got beaten to death. Chances were the old guy was protecting his pension or something. If he lost it, well, Zoe frowned, by the time social services had dealt with his case and given him some more cash he’d probably have starved to death.

Taking a step towards what could loosely be called a fight (the old guy wasn’t resisting much) Zoe stopped. Slayers weren’t supposed to involve themselves in purely human crimes, what she was supposed to do was take out her cell phone, call the cops and walk away. But she just couldn’t do that, by the time the cops got here the old guy could be dead. Watching as the youths started to kick their victim as he lay on the cold tarmac in a tight ball, Zoe found herself moving quickly and quietly towards the ‘fight’.

Taking one youth by the scruff of his neck she threw him across the play area. The second youth was just starting to realise that the situation had changed in the last second or two when Zoe hit him. A couple of low power hits sent the youth stumbling wide-eyed towards his buddy. Tripping over his friend just as he was picking himself up the two youths fell back onto the tarmac and stared at Zoe in fear and wonder.

“Get outta here unless you want some more!” Zoe spoke in a low and menacing voice, the youths took the hint, scrambled to their feet and ran off into the night.

Turning her attention to the victim, Zoe saw the old man look up at her with gratitude in his eyes, if this strong young woman hadn’t intervened when she had he’d probably be dead by now.

“Look I’ll call the cops,” Zoe pulled out her cell and dialled 911; the guy was bleeding from several cuts on his face and there could be internal injuries.

Giving the operator the location of the park, Zoe closed her phone and crouched down next to the old man.

“Look the cops and paramedics are on there way,” Zoe smiled reassuringly, “I’ve got to go…” she paused, “…I was never here, okay?”

Dumbly the old man nodded as he watched the girl disappear into the night.

0=0=0=0


	3. Chapter 3

3.

**The 16th Precinct, the following day.**

Standing in the elevator, Faith checked that her beret was on straight and her uniform was neat and tidy. Today she’d be playing the ASID investigator, so, no Ranger tabs and a black beret instead of her brown Ranger one. Her hand rested on the flap of her pistol holster for a moment as she checked that it was snapped closed. Cool, she thought to herself as a slight smile played around her lips, she’d show these doughnut eating, coffee swilling NYPD cops up for the messy pigs they were. Just as she glanced down at her extra shiny boots the elevator doors slid open and she stepped out into the corridor and straight into a riot.

“HEY!” Faith cried out as she was pushed roughly aside by two uniformed cops who, after crashing into her, fell into an untidy heap on the floor. “What’s goin’ on!?”

Before anyone could answer her perfectly reasonable question, Faith found herself confronted by a mountain of a man who was at present hurling cops down the corridor as if they were rag dolls.

“Hold on Barbie!” cried the man as he fought off three uniformed cops, easily breaking their hold on him and throwing them to the floor. “I’m comin’ for ya Barbie!”

Just for a moment, Faith wondered who the hell ‘Barbie’ was, but soon put such thoughts aside as a big detective picked up a fire extinguisher and used it to hit Man-Mountain on the back of the head. The giant went down on one knee from the force of the blow and seemed to be about to fall the rest of the way to the floor. Unfortunately he rallied and started to rise to his feet like some ‘B’ movie monster, he turned to face the detective that’d hit him.

“HOW DARE YOU!?” Roared the giant, he then picked up the big guy and threw him at the wall.

It was about at this point, Faith decided that it was time for her to deal with this situation. Dodging her way between the cops, she came up behind Man-mountain as he stood over the downed detective preparing to stomp his brains out. Kicking with the side of her foot, Faith caused the giant to fall to one knee again as her foot caught his leg behind the knee. Grabbing a night-stick from a passing cop she used it to hit Man-mountain in the kidneys as hard as she could, which as she was who she was, was pretty damn hard.

With a loud grunt the giant fell forward and rested on his hands and knees groaning loudly. Feeling more than a little annoyed that the man wasn’t down and out, Faith wondered why the guy wasn’t lying on the floor in agony. Having hit him just about as hard as she could short of killing the bastard he still wasn’t out of the fight. Not wasting any more time on useless conjecture, Faith straddled the giant’s back and put the night stick under his chin and grabbed the free end with her other hand. Hauling back on the night stick, she dragged the giant upright until he was half standing, half crouching with her knee in the small of her back.

“Someone get the cuffs on him!” Faith called as calmly as she could.

Several uniforms and detectives pounced on the now helpless man and put him in restraints. Stepping away from the still struggling monster, Faith returned the night-stick to the cop she’d taken it from before bending to retrieve her beret. After brushing the dust from her headgear, she replaced it to its correct position. Looking around, Faith found herself facing the big detective who’d hit the giant with the fire extinguisher.

“Hey!” The detective smiled as he looked down at her, “What do they feed you guys in the army these days, Chief?”

“Oh, the usual,” Faith replied non-committally, she’d spent all of her army career deflecting attention away from her unnatural strength and other abilities.

“Detective Stabler,” the big detective introduced himself as he held out his hand, “thanks for the assistance, there.”

“Chief Warrant Officer Lehane, Army Special Investigation Division,” Faith replied as she shook the detective’s massive paw.

The previous day, one of the ASID computers had given an alert that someone was trying to access information on the 613th. On investigation the enquires had been traced back to the NYPD’s 16th Precinct and the SVU Squad Room.

“How can we help you?” Stabler wanted to know as he led Faith towards his squad room.

“I’m looking for a Captain Cragen,” Faith replied, “do ya know where I can find him?”

“Um yeah,” Stabler grinned down at her as they walked into a large room full of desks and busy looking detectives, “he’s my boss, but he’s not here at the moment. Maybe I can help?”

0=0=0=0

Olivia, Fin and Munch stood clustered around Olivia’s desk as they watched Elliot talk to the army cop.

“I did a little background check on Chief Lehane.” Munch sat down on the end of a desk.

“And?” Olivier prompted.

“Seems GI Jane is something of a poster girl for the army,” Munch announced conspiratorially. “The reports make her sound like a one woman army.”

Fin smiled at Munch’s statement, “How so?” he asked, he’d been a Ranger himself and was wondering if this Lehane woman had been any of the places he’d been.

“Won the Silver Star for fighting her way through an ambush and killing a whole bunch of insurgents single-headedly,” Munch almost whispered.

“So,” Fin shrugged, “she’s a good combat soldier and lucky, what’s so odd about that?” 

“At the time she was suffering from burns to her hands and face plus she’d been shot in the leg and the arm.” Munch pointed out.

“What?” Olivia gasped in surprise. 

“She got a Bronze Star for carrying a wounded, _male_ officer on her back for five miles across the desert,” Munch paused for dramatic effect, “before she turned around and killed the insurgents that were following her…that time she only got shot in the arm and a concussion.”

“So,” Fin tried to laugh Munch’s suspicions off; however, Lehane didn’t look big enough to carry Olivia for five miles let alone a man, “you trying to tell me she’s some sort of government super-soldier experiment?”

“Hey look,” Munch began, “there’s been persistent rumours…” he paused to eye his colleagues before dropping his next bomb shell, “Remember that business in Jeffersonville a couple of years back?”

“Yeah,” Olivia nodded her head, “local PD lost control of the streets when a gang war broke out.”

“That’s what people would like you to believe,” Munch replied knowingly, “But do you remember about the Air Force transport that crashed on a school just before it all started?”

“What ya goin’ on about?” Fin demanded.

“Did you know that the 613th were deployed to the crash site?” Munch asked quietly.

“It was probably a…” Olivia began but was interrupted by Munch before she could finish.

“And guess who was there helping out the Rangers?” Munch turned his head to look to where Faith and Elliot where standing by the door to the interview room.

“Hey, shh!” Olivier silenced Munch, “she’s coming over.”

“Okay,” Elliot walked over to the little group of detectives, “this is Chief Lehane from the Army Special Investigation Division, apparently my trying to find out information about this 613th Rangers unit set off some alarm bells.”

Munch gave his colleagues an ‘I told you so’ look.

“This is Detectives Olivia Benson, Fin Tutuola and John Munch,” Elliot introduced his friends and colleagues.

“Hi nice to meet ya,” Faith smiled as she shook hands, “its Faith by the way.”

“Boston right?” Munch asked suspiciously.

“Yeah that’s right,” Faith turned towards the older detective, “I thought I’d been in the army so long I’d lost the accent,” she shrugged, “obviously not…”

“As I was explaining,” Elliot began, “I was looking for information because we found some evidence that suggested a connection with the 613th.”

“Okay, let’s see it,” Faith said helpfully, “ya never know I might be able to help.”

Olivia opened a desk drawer and took out the evidence bag containing the lighter and handed it to Faith.

“May I?” Faith indicated that she wanted to take the lighter out of the bag.

“Go ahead,” Olivia nodded, “it’s been processed.”

“Fingerprints?” Faith asked as she took the lighter out of the bag and studied it as she turned it over and over in her hand.

“Nothing useful,” Olivia replied.

“Looks like a perfectly normal novelty lighter,” Faith explained with a sigh, “I’ve got one just like it,” reaching into her pocket she produced her own lighter, a copy of the one the police had. “Load of the guys have them,” Faith explained as she returned her lighter to her pocket, “I can check if anyone’s lost one and I can also check if any of the guys were in New York…how many days ago?”

“Night of the 17th,” Elliot supplied.

“I doubt it was one of ours,” Faith smiled, “okay, they’re not angels but…what crime was this? By the fact I’m sitting in a SVU squad room I’d guess it was pretty serious.”

“Rape murder,” Stabler replied.

“Okay,” Faith looked serious and nodded her head, “I’ll get onto that as soon as I can and let you know,” her eyes drifted over to where some crime scene photos rested on Olivia’s desk. “Hey, are those photos of the crime scene?”

“Erm yes,” Olivia tried to hide the photos from Faith’s gaze, she was too late Faith had already picked one up and was studying it closely, odd, Olivia though, she’d not actually seen the army cop move until she already had the photo in her hand.

“God-damn-it!” Faith cursed quietly, “Thought I had something there but they just look like gang tags.”

“What’s that?” Stabler asked his interest piqued.

“These symbols sprayed on the wall,” Faith pointed to the symbols in the photograph, “they looked kinda occult.”

“Occult?” Munch asked.

“Yeah, one of the things ASID investigate is occult imagery being used to intimidate people and groups,” Faith replied using one of ASID’s many cover stories.

“The army believes in magic?” Olivia laughed.

“Of course not,” Faith chuckled thinking how the truth would scare the crap out of these guys, “but a lot of people in the Third World do, the army likes to keep ahead of the game is all.”

“So…?” Stabler hinted.

“Sorry,” Faith shrugged and gave the photo back to Olivia, “they’re probably gang tags, you’ve had them checked?”

“Yeah,” Olivia admitted, “nothing…”

“Crap,” Faith said quietly, “sorry guys I can’t help you,” she stood up from where she’d been leaning against a desk and prepared to go, “I’ll check on the where abouts of our guys for the night of the 17th and ask around if anyone’s lost a lighter and get back to ya as soon as I can.”

“Well, erm thanks,” Stabler was a little taken aback by Faith’s sudden decision to leave.

“If ya need any more info,” Faith fished in a pocket and produced a card with the ASID badge on it and a telephone number, “you can contact us on that number…” she grinned broadly, “…it’ll be safer and more informative than looking for us on the internet.”

Heading out of the Precinct House, Faith paused on the sidewalk. Turning towards the parking structure where her driver waited with the Hummer she thought about what the SVU Detective had told her. She doubted that anyone from the 613th was involved, they’d probably lost the lighter somewhere and it’d been picked up by one of the perps. But she’d check and get back to Stabler in a day or two.

0=0=0=0

**John Munch’s Apartment, later that night.**

It was late in the evening when John Munch got back to his apartment; the Kersey case wasn’t going well, while they had clues they had no leads. It was like the perps (there had to have been more than one) had just vanished into thin air. After making himself a cup of coffee he sat down at his computer and started a search for ‘Faith Lehane’. The instant he’d heard her Boston accent and learnt her first name, alarm bells had gone off in his head. There was something about Faith Lehane, something he’d read or seen from a few years back but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

His coffee had grown cold while he’d sat at his computer clicking on links; just as he was about to give up and go to bed he clicked on a link to the California Highway Patrol. Gasping slightly Munch sat back in his chair and stared at his computer screen. There she was, okay the photo was fuzzy but it clearly showed a younger Faith Lehane standing in a sports shop next to a blonde girl with a bow in her hand.

Obviously the photo was taken from a security camera in a shop; it looked like Lehane had broken into a sporting goods store with this other girl. Okay, Munch calmed down, this proved nothing other than Lehane had been a little wild in her youth. He knew that many a good soldier’s backgrounds weren’t exactly spotless.

Clicking on another link, Munch found out what CHiPs wanted to talk to Lehane about. Murder, they wanted to talk to her and another un-named girl, about the murder of the Deputy Mayor of Sunnydale (a town that featured heavily in Munch’s conspiracy theories). Switching on his printer, Munch was just about to print the page out when smoke started to billow out from the back of his CPU. The smoke was rapidly followed by sparks and flames until with a sharp *BANG!* Munch’s computer exploded leaving him rushing for a fire extinguisher as his ‘paranoia level’ jumped a dozen notches upward.

0=0=0=0

**The Rosenberg Residence, Grandview, New York State.**

Sitting in front of her computer, Willow yawned and stretched. It was time to go to bed; she was alone in her new little house tonight as Faith was away on a job for ASID and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Just as she was about to switch off her computer for the night she noticed the little alarm icon flashing in the corner of her screen.

“That better not be Buffy,” Willow muttered under her breath; ever since Buffy had fallen pregnant she’d taken to calling Willow every time something ‘weird’ happened (like heartburn) just in case some demon was trying to possess her unborn child. Frankly Willow was starting to get a little fed up with it.

However, thinking that it was wise to check just in case it was something important, Willow clicked on the icon and waited to see what Buffy’s problem was now. Sitting up straight, Willow stared at the screen before starting to type rapidly. Someone was trying to look into Faith’s past and that someone appeared to be a cop! Tracing the connection back to the computer from where the request had come from, Willow clicked on several more icons, muttered some words of power under her breath before sitting back with a relieved sigh.

“That should totally settle the nosey-parker’s hash!” Willow smiled as she imagined the ‘cop’, or whoever, running for something to put out the fire she’d just started in his computer. “Now let’s see what he was looking at…”

Finding herself on the CHiP’s website she looked at the grainy picture of a much younger Faith.

“Damn-it!” Willow snapped and just for a second her eyes glowed redly, “I thought I’d got everything.”

Over the last few months, Willow had slowly been expunging old-evil-Faith from the internet, she’d thought she’d got most of the law enforcement databases but she’d obviously missed this one. Clicking on another magical icon, Willow sent a magic ‘worm’ into the CHiP’s database. Within a couple minutes all traces of anyone called ‘Faith Lehane’ had been removed. Smiling, Willow congratulated herself on being such a clever (and cute) witch. Tomorrow when whoever logged on from another computer, he’d find no mention of a Faith Lehane and any suggestion that she was wanted for murder, or indeed anything else, would have vanished.

Switching off her computer, Willow yawned again and headed for her bed. The two most important people in her life were safe again. Because if Faith was arrested for murdering Finch, then Buffy would be too; Buffy had been there when Faith had accidentally killed Finch which made them both equally guilty. While Faith could claim she didn’t know what she’d done because of her amnesia, Buffy couldn’t make the same defence, she’d been covering it up (or denying that she’d done anything wrong) for a good ten years now.

0=0=0=0


	4. Chapter 4

4.

**16th Precinct, SVU Squad Room, a week or so later.**

Pushing through the swing doors into the SVU squad room Zoe paused and swept the room with her eyes hoping to see someone she knew. It was early evening and she’d not long finished school for the day. To tell the truth she’d sort of been putting off going back to the SUV detectives; in one way she was frightened that they’d found out nothing about who’d raped and killed her mother and little sister, in another she was scared that they had. Catching sight of the back of Detective Benson’s head where she was working at her desk, Zoe walked hesitantly over to talk to the woman.

“Detective Benson?” Zoe asked; Olivia looked up at her and Zoe could tell the detective was having trouble remembering her name, she helped her out, “Zoe Kersey…”

“Oh, Zoe,” recognition dawned in the detectives eyes, “sit down,” Benson indicated the chair next to her desk, “I expect you’ve come to ask if we’ve made any progress on your mother’s and sister’s case?”

“Yes,” Zoe nodded as she sat down, “I’ve been away for a couple of weeks…”

“Yes that’s right,” Benson agreed sympathetically, “you said something about wanting to get out of the city for a while.”

“Yes, so…” Zoe took a deep breath, “…has there been any progress?”

For a moment Benson said nothing before smiling supportively.

“I’m afraid not, Zoe,” Benson reached out and took hold of Zoe’s hand.

“W-what…?” Zoe felt the tears start to burn in the corner of her eyes, quickly she dashed them away with the back of her hand; be calm, she told herself, and ask the detective why. “W-why not?”

Withdrawing her hand, Olivia opened a drawer and removed the case file before putting it on her desk and opening it, she read the top page quickly before turning back to face Zoe.

“I’m sorry but we simply didn’t have any leads…” Benson began but was interrupted by Zoe before she could explain.

“B-but you had fingerprints…!” Zoe fought to stop herself from shouting the words like an accusation.

“Yes we did,” Olivia agreed, “but they weren’t in any of the databases and we did search most thoroughly. There was no other forensics and no one saw anything plus the CCTV at the back of the building was put out of action….”

“Deliberately?” Zoe asked as it started to dawn on her that the police had stopped looking for her mother’s and sister’s killer.

“Yes, it looks that way,” Benson confirmed, “Zoe…” the detective at least had the decency to look embarrassed at her inability to catch the killer or killers, “…Zoe, what we think happened is this…”

Detective Benson went on to explain how they thought that the killer or killers (the cops weren’t even one-hundred percent sure whether they were looking for one killer or more than one), were from out of town and had probably left New York within twenty-four hours of committing the crime. It was also likely that however the killer or killers were had never been arrested before which would explain the absence of any fingerprints in any databases.

“What about that lighter you found?” Zoe asked grasping at straws.

“Sorry,” Benson shook her head slowly, “but we contacted the unit in question, all their personnel were accounted for and one soldier said she’d lost her lighter,” Benson sighed, “chances are the perp picked it up somewhere by chance.”

“All of them?” Zoe asked incredulously, she didn’t know much about the army but surely there must be hundreds of men to check on, how could they be so sure none of them had done it?

“Yes,” Benson nodded, “the unit in question has less that three-hundred personnel and about a third of those are women, some where overseas at the time so it was fairly easy to check on the remainder’s locations for the night in question.”

“Oh,” Zoe looked down at her hands where they rested in her lap, it was clear the police had given up, “So there’s nothing you can do?”

“I’m sorry, Zoe,” Olivia said with professional compassion, “until we get some new evidence there’s not a lot we can do…” Zoe nodded her head slowly in agreement with Olivia’s words, “…but we never close a file, we always keep looking…”

“Yeah, okay,” Zoe got slowly to her feet, “thank-you Detective Benson, I…well I know you did your best.”

“Like I say,” Benson stood up and watched the young woman struggle to control her grief, “we never close a file…I can give you the names of some grief counsellors if you want…”

“No that’s okay, I’ll be fine, I have friends,” Zoe sniffed back her tears; she’d thought she’d be able to deal, she was a big, bad slayer after all, she should be able to deal with death and hurt and pain and…. Taking a deep breath, Zoe straightened her shoulders and looked up, “I better be going home now, I’ve moved out of our old place, got somewhere smaller,” and less full of the memories of her mother and sister, “I can be contacted through my attorney if you have any new information.”

“Of course…” Olivia Benson watched as Zoe walked out of the squad room shoulders straight and head held high, “poor kid,” Olivia muttered to herself before sitting down and getting back to her present case.

0=0=0=0

**Several nights later.**

Alone in the subway car, Zoe stared at her reflection in the window opposite without really seeing herself, it was almost like watching a stranger she felt so detached from the world. Her mother and sister were gone, buried in the cold, hard ground and the killer or killers would never be caught. Despite of all of Detective Benson’s kind words and reassurances to the contrary the police had given up.

With nothing better to do, Zoe had thrown herself into a tough round of training followed by patrols late into the night. It helped her forget her grief and gave her something to work out her frustrations on. Combining her new found interest in all things ‘slayer’ and a full day at school meant that when she got home and went to bed, she was so tired that she fell asleep immediately her head touched the pillow and she was too exhausted to dream.

Looking away from her reflection, Zoe noticed the train was coming into a station, glancing at the name, she realised she was still six stops away from home. Coming to a halt the train doors clunked open to admit one new passenger. Glancing up at the new arrival, Zoe checked him out in the hopes that he might be a vamp or something. A ‘slay’ now would ensure another night of dreamless sleep. Unfortunately Zoe didn’t get any ‘evil’ vibe off him, he was just a human. Disappointed she went back to studying her reflection as the train started to move again.

Swaying with the motion of the car and letting the noise of the wheels on the track numb her mind, Zoe let the motion and sound hypnotise her. Retreating to the far recesses of her mind back to happier times of herself and her mom and Carol at the beach, Zoe didn’t at first notice the young man come and stand in front of her, holding his knife loosely in his hand he grinned down at her and swayed in time with the car’s motion.

“…hey bitch!” the youth snapped angrily as he bent towards Zoe and presented his knife in front of her eyes, “ya deaf or somethin’?”

“W-what?” Zoe blinked and suddenly became aware that she was in danger.

“Hand it over, bitch!” the punk repeated himself.

“Hand…?” Zoe wasn’t really there, she wanted to stay at the beach with her mom with the sound of her sister’s laughter ringing in her ears as the surf crashed against the shore.

“The money bitch,” the punk reached for Zoe’s bag, “hand it ov…!”

Her hand becoming a blur, Zoe’s left hand shot up and grabbed the punk’s right wrist and started to squeeze. The punk cried out in shook and pain before dropping his knife. Feeling the bones in the mugger’s wrist start to shatter, Zoe looked into the thug’s eyes for maybe half a second. This guy was, no doubt, the kind of guy who’d unthinkingly rape and murder a woman for the few dollars in her purse, why should he live when her little sister was dead?

Her right hand came up, palm first and struck the youth on the end of his nose driving the bone and cartilage up into his brain. Wide eyed and completely surprised by his own sudden death the youth fell to the dirty floor of the car. For a moment he lay there twitching slightly as his ruined brain closed down and his body realised it was dead. Standing up and looking down at the body Zoe felt something she hadn’t felt for a long time, she felt free of grief. She felt that in some small way she’d struck a blow for her dead mother and sister, that somehow they’d rest more easily in their graves because of what she’d done.

Listening to the rhythms of the subway car, Zoe realised that there was still a little time before the train got to the next station. Time enough to add a little something to make this kill something special for whoever found the body. Picking up the mugger’s knife Zoe knelt down beside the body and got to work.

0=0=0=0

Sensing the subway train starting to slow down, Zoe got to her feet having completed her gristly work. Slipping the bloody knife into her bag she checked her jeans and jacket for blood spots as she wiped her hands clean with the wet wipes she always carried. One of the things about slayers was they always carried stuff to clean themselves up with after slaying a demon. Feeling the car slow down and the lights of a station come into view, Zoe moved towards the exit at the end of the car, pulling her hood up as she did so. There would be CCTV cameras on the platform, if she kept her hood up and her head down she wouldn’t be recognised.

Jerking to one side as the train came to a halt, Zoe waited impatiently for the doors to open. After what felt like an eternity the doors rattled open and she stepped out onto the platform. Ignoring the terrified scream from the female passenger who’d stepped into the car and discovered the body, Zoe walked across the platform. As luck would have it a train arrived on the other line almost at the same time she did. Keeping her head down Zoe stepped onto the train and turned to watch as the doors closed behind her. The train pulled out of the station as she watched people rush to the screaming woman. The last thing she saw before the train entered the tunnel was a cop running over to see what was wrong.

0=0=0=

Wiping his nose and wondering if he’d ever get rid of this cold, Detective Ochoa crossed the platform towards the stalled subway train. There were the usual crowd of ghouls looking on like you found at every crime scene. They were being held back behind the yellow police tape by three uniformed officers. Flashing his badge to the closest officer he ducked under the tape.

“The body?” Ochoa asked.

“In the car,” the officer jerked his head towards the train.

“CSU here yet?” 

“On the way, Detective.”

“Who found the body?”

“Female passenger,” the officer explained, “got on at this station, she’s with the transport police.”

“Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere before I talk to her.”

“Sure thing,” the uniform nodded, “Officer Young is with the body now,” the cop continued, knowing what the detective would say next he added, “don’t worry she’d dealt with more than her share of crime scenes, she doesn’t mess up.”

“Thanks,” Ochoa paused and sneezed before stepping into the car.

Looking down the car he saw a female patrol officer, black, cute, about five-four and mid to late twenties. Ochoa started to think that if he wasn’t thirty years too old for her and if he wasn’t married with three kids (the oldest of whom was about this young woman’s age) he still wouldn’t make a move on her!

“Officer Young?” he asked as the uniformed officer turned towards him and he saw her very intense brown eyes, “Detective Ochoa, Homicide, you first on the scene?”

“Yes Deetective,” there was a trace of an accent in the woman’s words but Ochoa couldn’t put his finger on its origin, “I got here at eleven-oh-nine it looked like de body hadn’t been dead long, probably killed here; looks like a mugging gone wrong.”

“Victim wasn’t as helpless as…!” Ochoa got his first good look at the body, “Oh! Lord God almighty!” he gasped.

“Yeah,” Kendra couldn’t help but smile at the detective’s reaction, “‘whoever’ really did a job on the vic…” Kendra paused for a moment before pointing to the body and explaining, “…right wrist broken, he was probably holding his knife in dat hand. Then the perp drove his nose up into his brain. Musta killed him in seconds.”

“Looks like the perp knew what he was doing,” Ochoa squatted down next to the body and gestured to the man’s bloody crouch.

“Yep,” Kendra smiled again, “after killing him our perp tried out some major surgery…”

Ochoa shivered and felt his balls try to climb up inside his body as he realised what the perp had done.

“What’s that in his mouth?” Ochoa gestured to the victims head.

“Best guess…” Kendra smirked, “…his dick!”

“Great…” Ochoa sighed as he slowly stood up, “…and I really mean that,” he saw the puzzled look on the cute cop’s face and once again wished he was thirty years younger. “His junk in his mouth makes this a sex crime,” Ochoa explained, “we can walk away from this one and leave it to SVU.”

Disappointed, Officer Kendra Young turned away from the body and followed the Detective out of the car. When she’d arrived at the crime scene she’d had a few moments by herself to check the victim out; she’d told Ochoa that the victim’s wrist had been broken. It’d actually been crushed, she’d felt the splinters of bone move under her fingers. Then there was the strike to the nose; that was a deliberate ‘killing blow’, whoever did that had meant to kill their target.

While someone with unarmed combat training could do the nose strike it would take more than human strength to shatter all the bones in a man’s wrist. This meant it was probably something otherworldly or, heaven forbid, the victim had tried to mug a slayer. Perhaps he’d caught the girl unawares and she’d just lashed out; if that was the case it could be covered up as a justifiable homicide, manslaughter at worst. But cutting off the guy’s junk that made it something else. Of course it could all be the work of a demon but it didn’t feel like a monster to her. When she got home tonight she’d make some calls, if there was a rogue slayer on the loose then New York was going to see a lot more murders like this one.

0=0=0=0


	5. Chapter 5

5.

**A Children’s Shelter.**

“Morning Vi!” Kennedy burst into the office at the back of the children’s shelter she financed catching Vi half asleep over her computer monitor. “Sorry I’m late, girlfriend trouble…she’ll have to go you know!?”

“Another one?” Vi yawned and stretched as she watched Kennedy remove her coat and hang it up, “You’ve not had much luck with girlfriends since you and Wil…” Vi stopped herself from saying anymore; Kennedy was still a little ‘touchy’ about her break up with Willow.

“Hey,” Kennedy smiled as she walked over to Vi’s desk, “it’s alright to say her name you know, I won’t bite your head off…talking of biting heads off; all quiet on the monster front last night?”

The children’s shelter was actually a front for the Reformed Watcher’s Council’s ‘House’ in New York, which Kennedy ran. After all, she had the money, the connections and even Buffy agreed that she was actually quite good at it. This week it was Vi’s turn to take night shift, a duty shared between Vi, Kennedy and Helga, all Sunnydale veterans.

“Nothing out of the usual,” Vi frowned, there was something but she’d decided to leave that to last, “we had four girls patrolling last and they took down three vamps and one demon of indeterminate type…”

“Not a bad haul for a mid-week,” Kennedy rested her hand on the back of Vi’s chair and looked at the monitor scanning the reports sent in by the slayers, “so why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me something.”

“Got a report in from one of the ‘Independents’, Kendra Young to be precise,” Vi opened a new folder that showed a transcript of the message that Kendra had left.

“Kendra Young?” Kennedy asked as she moved away from Vi and over towards were the coffee pots rested on their hotplates.

New York had twelve slayers which included Kennedy, Vi and Helga; there were also a few ‘Independent’ slayers, women who had careers that they didn’t want to give up or who weren’t willing to enter into the life of a full time slayer.

“Kendra Young, cop,” Vi reminded Kennedy but got no reaction, “works out of the 42nd Precinct…” still there was no sign of recognition from Kennedy, “…cute, about twenty-six, five-four, odd accent?”

“Oh! That Kendra!” Kennedy smiled as she poured coffee for herself and Vi, “Why didn’t you say?”

“I did,” Vi rolled her eyes and accepted the coffee mug off Kennedy.

“So, what did she have to say to make you look so serious?” Kennedy asked as she sat down on the edge of the desk and sipped her coffee, “Yuck!” Kennedy made a face, “I don’t know how you can drink this paint stripper.”

“Whatever,” Vi tried to steer the conversation back on track, “she phoned in a report last night,” Vi glanced at her screen to refresh her memory about the details. “She was first on the scene at a mugging gone wrong…”

“Gone wrong?” Kennedy asked.

“Mugger got killed,” Vi clarified.

“And I should care because?” Kennedy prompted.

“Whoever killed the mugger exhibited unusual strength,” Vi explained.

“Okay,” Kennedy put down her coffee mug and gave Vi her full attention, “you’ve got my interest, what evidence do we have.”

“Kendra said the bones in the mugger’s wrist were crushed…” Vi began.

“Broken?” Kennedy corrected hopefully.

“No, she was quite specific,” Vi continued, “they were crushed…”

“Oh!” Kennedy’s face started to lose some of her early morning cheerfulness.

“…then, whoever did it killed the mugger with a single blow to the nose,” Vi went on reading from the screen, “before cutting the guy’s junk off and stuffing his bits in his mouth.”

“Ewww,” Kennedy said quietly before adding, “so, we’ve got one less mugger in New York City, where’s the down side?”

“Kendra thinks it might have been a slayer that did it,” knowing what Kennedy would ask next she ploughed on with her report, “the cops have CCTV footage of a female leaving the subway car just before the body was found.”

“Crap,” Kennedy said quietly, “So, what if it was a slayer?” she searched for an explanation, “Mugger makes the mistake of trying to rob one of the girl’s and pays for it.”

“No,” Vi shook her head, “if it was one of ours she’d have just incapacitated the guy and left him for the cops. Whoever did this killed deliberately and left a message…unless this is some anti-crime demon; we’ve got a rogue slayer on our hands.”

“Crap and double crap,” Kennedy muttered darkly before starting to issue orders, “while I don’t believe for a second that one of our girls did this, call all the girls who were out last night, I want to talk to them.”

“Now?” Vi paused as she reached for the phone.

“No,” Kennedy shook her head, “they’ll be sleeping, leave messages for them to come in tonight about six o’clock, and then…”

“And then?” Vi shifted to e-mail and started to type.

“And then you better go home and get some sleep yourself,” Kennedy smiled, “I want my best slayer well rested and ready for action, okay?”

“Okay,” Vi paused in her typing and looked at Kennedy, “I’m really your best slayer?”

“Yeah,” Kennedy got up to get more coffee, “after me of course.”

“Of course,” Vi smiled to herself before she went back to her typing.

0=0=0=0

**Zoe’s Apartment, a couple of days’ later.**

Sitting on her couch in front of her TV, Zoe turned the small pistol over in her hands. It was a .22 calibre automatic, she’d read somewhere that it was the sort of weapon professional assassins preferred and she could see why. It was small so it would fit easily into a pocket. Unlike larger hand guns it didn’t make much of a noise when fired, if anybody heard it go off most people would think it was a cap-gun firing or a firecracker being set off. It had a twelve round magazine, which would be more than enough capacity for what she wanted and Zoe felt confident she could explain its presence away if a cop stopped her. She wasn’t worried about stopping power either, two in the chest and one in the head would kill any human no matter how big or tough they were.

The decision to buy the pistol had come the day after she’d killed the mugger on the subway. That night when she’d come home she’d felt exhilarated, she’d also slept better than she’d done in a long time feeling no need to exhaust herself before going to bed. Feeling like she’d struck a blow for her mom and sister and every law abiding person in the city who just wanted to live their lives free of fear, Zoe had got up the next morning with her plan fully formed in her mind.

She would become a dark avenger. So, she was a slayer, ran her logic, it didn’t really matter how many vamps or demons she took down there would always be more. But, human monsters could be frightened, intimidated or failing that killed. No one would really care, in fact they’d probably cheer. Only the police would try to catch her and just how good where they at doing that? They’d not even been able to catch the man or men who’d raped and killed her mom and sister; no leads, huh? They just hadn’t been trying.

No, Zoe told herself, she could dodge any investigation the police might launch. Talking of investigations; Zoe picked up her TV remote and turned up the volume on her TV. Sitting and smiling to herself she watched as Captain Cragen gave a statement to the press and TV news. It seemed SVU were handling the case because they thought that it was a sex crime, Zoe smiled to herself; cutting off the muggers dick and stuffing it in his mouth had sort of been a ‘spur of the moment’ thing. As a result she appeared to have sent the police investigation down a blind alley. 

Standing up and switching off her TV, Zoe decided that she had a choice; she could either make sure she never did anything again that might make the police think this was a sex crime. Or she could play with them and leave clues that had nothing to do with her real motives.

Putting down the gun, Zoe slipped her arms in to her jacket before picking up the pistol again, before slipping a fully loaded magazine into the grip and hauling back on the slide. Applying the safety she put the weapon into her right hand jacket pocket before hiding a stake up her left sleeve. Finally, she took a hunting knife from the closet in the hallway and pushed it into the waistband of her jeans behind her back.

Satisfied that she was carrying weapons for all eventualities, Zoe checked her watch, it was fifteen minutes short of eleven o’clock. Smiling she imagined all the monsters, both human and demonic, out and about doing what came naturally. In a way she hated the human monsters most; the demons had no choice in what they did, they were hard-wired to do evil. Human’s had a choice, they could choose to be good or bad, they’d chosen to be bad, to do evil things and it was a slayer’s destiny to stop the bad things.

Picking up her bag and checking it contained her keys, cellphone and spare stake, Zoe put it over her shoulder, switched off the lights and went out her front door. Running lightly down the stairs to the front door of the apartment, she nodded politely to the night porter and explained that she was going to a friend’s house and wouldn’t be back for two or three hours. After reassuring Zoe that he’d be there to let her in if needs be, the porter wished her good night and cautioned her to be careful.

Careful? Zoe smiled broadly as she headed on out the door, it wasn’t her that needed to be careful.

0=0=0=0

**’The Pond’ Central Park.**

‘The Pond’ is situated in the south-east corner of Central Park near the Central Park Zoo. It was cold and Zoe’s breath misted the air as she walked slowly along the path that went around the pond. As she walked she would stumble and weave from side to side giving a good impression of someone who was drunk or under the influence of drugs.

The killing of the mugger on the subway had been accidental as Zoe hadn’t gone out that night with the intention of killing anything more than the traditional slayer prey. But when the situation had presented itself she’d grabbed it with both hands. Quickly realising that she couldn’t guarantee being attacked every night she went out, Zoe had rapidly come up with an alternative plan. Instead of just waiting to be attacked she would actively encourage the criminal element to attack her.

Her slayer senses would tell her if she was being attacked by a human or demonic monster and her reactions would give her time to react in an appropriate manner. Tonight she was giving the impression that she was an attractive and more importantly helpless young woman who wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Of course when the monsters found out their mistake it would be too late.

Stumbling over to a lamppost, Zoe rested for a moment and scanned the bushes next to the path, there were two humans approaching her. One was walking along the path that joined the pathway she was on about thirty feet ahead of her. The second was about twelve feet behind her just standing there with his hands in the pockets of his jacket, watching her. Pushing away from the lamppost, Zoe staggered on down the path towards the guy who was now standing ahead of her blocking her way. Swaying gently, she came to a halt and looked up at the guy who’d come off the side path, he grinned at her.

“If you make a sound,” he smiled nastily as he pulled a revolver from his pocket and pointed it at Zoe’s head, “I’ll fuckin’ kill ya bitch!”

Already with her hand on the gun in her pocket, Zoe sobered alarmingly quickly. The guy with the gun caught the predatory look in Zoe’s eyes and was just about to call a warning to his buddy when the first of two rounds fired in rapid succession hit him in the chest just above his heart. The revolver fell from his hand to hit the path with a solid sounding *CLUNK!*.

Turning, Zoe pulled her pistol from her smoking pocket and aimed at the running figure of the second rapist or mugger. There was a sharp crack as she fired once, hitting the mugger in the small of his back and severing his spinal column. Losing control of his legs the mugger crashed to the ground like an aircraft coming in for a forced landing. Turning away from the second mugger, Zoe walked over to the first mugger and put a single round through his forehead. He’d looked dead but she wanted to make sure. Finally she put one round into his crutch.

Turning away from her first victim, Zoe walked over to where the second mugger was attempting to crawl away leaving a trail of blood behind him. Lifting her pistol Zoe shot him twice in the back of the head, before turning his body over with her foot and putting one round into his genitals. It was only after she’d fired her seventh round that she spotted what could be the fatal flaw in her plan.

Having fired seven rounds that meant there were seven empty cases to pick up. Okay two were in her pocket, which meant that five were lying around somewhere. She was almost sure that one had gone into The Pond, she’d been aware of something plopping into the water just after she’d shot her second victim in the back of the head. This meant that there were four cases, possibly with her finger prints on them lying in the grass and bushes.

“Damn-it!” Zoe cursed under her breath.

The .22 was quiet but even so someone might have heard and could even now be calling the police. Even with slayer eyesight it would take her a long time to search for the spent cases and she couldn’t hang around much longer. After hesitating for no more than a few seconds, Zoe headed towards the 65th Street Transverse and Central Park West. Here she crossed the road and headed for the subway on Broadway. As she walked she tried to think up a way of not making the same mistake twice; she didn’t want to get caught too soon, in fact she didn’t want to get caught at all. Getting caught would spoil her plans, she still had a lot of work to do.

0=0=0=0

Detective Ochoa, walked along the path by the pond and ducked under the police tape as he dabbed at his runny nose. All around him uniformed officers moved about sealing off the crime scene as CSU techs moved about taking photos and collecting evidence. From what he’d overheard they’d already found one spent cartridge case. Walking towards the first of two bodies, Ochoa noticed one of the uniformed cops standing near the vic, he recognised her and smiled.

“Officer Young,” he called, “we meet again!”

“Deetective,” Kendra looked up and nodded politely to the older man.

“This is getting to be a habit,” Ochoa wiped his nose before stuffing his hanky into his pocket, “people might start thinking one of us is carrying out these murders just so we’ll meet.”

Seeing no sign of amusement in Young’s eyes, Ochoa shrugged under his raincoat and got back to business.

“What have we got?” he asked.

“Two vics,” explained Kendra, “multiple close range gsw’s, almost execution style…” Kendra pulled back the plastic sheet so Ochoa could see the body. “…perp shot dis one then went over an’ shot de other one, CSU can tell you more Deetective.”

“But?” Ochoa could tell there was something more that Young wanted to say.

“Well, Deetective,” Kendra pulled the plastic sheet a little further off the corpse, “both victims were shot in de crutch after day were dead.”

“Looks like another one for SVU, Officer Young,” he looked up at the young woman as she recovered the body with the plastic sheet. “Have you ever thought of transferring to the detectives?”

“What me!?” Kendra laughed quietly, “Too much like hard work,” she grinned, it would also cut into the time she spent on her non-police duties, “Thanks, but no thanks Deetective, I like what I do.”

“Whatever,” Ochoa shrugged; he thought the girl had talent but if she was happy as she was… “If you change your mind y’know where you can find me.”

0=0=0=0


	6. Chapter 6

6.

**A Subway Car a couple of nights later.**

It was late and there were only three other people in the car with Zoe and she was beginning to think that tonight was going to be a washout. She’d done everything she could to make herself look like an attractive target, the bag of books the portfolio case, the way she had her head stuck in a magazine apparently reading and oblivious to the world around her. But no one had taken the bait, she glanced at her watch and sighed, it was nearly midnight. If nobody ‘bit’ in the next ten minutes she was going home.

It was then Zoe heard the door at the other end of the car bang open, looking up quickly she saw the two young men walk into the car not bothering to close the connecting door behind them. These looked the type; Zoe smiled as she apparently continued to read her magazine, scruffy, unwashed and unshaved. They moved on down the car pausing near a black couple who were sitting more or less in the middle of the carriage. They wouldn’t attack, Zoe knew, she’d seen their type before; they were cowards and would only attack the weak or those on their own. The couple might prove too dangerous for them.

However, the two street punks must have made the couple uneasy or maybe it was just their stop because as the train started to slow down for the next station they got up and moved towards the door. Just as the train came into the station the junkie who’d been asleep in the corner seat near Zoe woke up, looked around owlishly, got unsteadily to his feet and lurched towards the nearest door. The train stopped and the doors rattled open letting the couple and the junkie get off, no one got on. That just left Zoe and the two punks.

Still pretending to read her magazine, Zoe sensed the punks move toward her. By the time the train had picked up speed again one of the punks, a guy with frizzy hair wearing a leather jacket with a Stars and Stripes on the back, was standing in front of her. The other guy, dressed in an old, green, army jacket was standing a little further away near centre of the car. He was the look-out man, keeping a check on the doors at either end of the carriage.

Head down, Zoe continued to look at her magazine keeping up the pretence of reading. Even over the noise made by the train as it clattered through the tunnel, she caught the sound of a knife blade flicking open. The punk in the leather jacket used his knife to slash Zoe’s magazine in half. He leered down at her as she looked up at him apparently with fear in her eyes. The punk gestured with his knife; he wanted her money and probably something else too. Continuing to play the part of the terrified commuter, Zoe let her hand drift towards her pocket as if she was going for her purse. The punk smiled exposing bad teeth and breathed garlic breath over her. The train wobbled, causing the punk to reach out and take hold of a handrail to steady himself.

In the second that the punk was distracted, Zoe had pulled her pistol and had it pointed at the punk’s chest. The street-punk looked down at her once more, only to see the muzzle of the pistol pointing back up at him. Before he could react there were three sharp cracks and two little red holes appeared above the mugger’s heart while another appeared in his forehead. Eternally surprised by how quickly the situation had changed he slipped to the floor of the car. At first his partner didn’t realise anything was wrong. However, the seriousness of his situation soon became apparent to him as he saw his buddy lying in a rapidly expanding pool of blood. Seeing the student girl, who they’d thought was such an easy target standing and pointing a gun at him, he turned tail and started to run for the door to the next car.

The first bullet caught the runner between the shoulder blades. He fell sprawling to the floor. Walking over to where the man lay writhing in agony, Zoe waited a moment before firing two more rounds into him bringing his pathetic life to a timely end. Well pleased with her night’s work, Zoe stuffed her gun back into her pocket and pulled up the hood of her jacket. The train was slowing down, in a moment she’d have to run the gauntlet of the station CCTV’s. The train drew into the station, the doors opened and Zoe stepped out of the car and headed for the nearest exit.

Hearing a female scream as someone discovered the bodies, Zoe kept her head down and headed for the street. Once outside the station she walked down the street before taking several random turns, Zoe was a good four blocks away from the subway station before she felt safe enough to hail a cab and go home.

0=0=0=0

**Kennedy’s Apartment, a day or so later.**

“Could you get the door please Maria?” Kennedy called to her maid a good ten seconds before the doorbell rang.

Walking out of the kitchen to greet her guest, Kennedy smiled to herself, slayer hearing was just so useful and she seemed to be able to sense some slayers before she saw or heard them.

“Missy Violet, Señorita,” Maria announced in her heavily accented English.

“VI!” Kennedy smiled happily to see her friend as Maria disappeared back into the kitchen.

“Kennie,” Vi replied as she returned Kennedy’s enthusiastic hug.

“So sit down and tell me all,” Kennedy gestured to a long leather couch near the window as she headed for the drinks cabinet, “can I get you something?”

“Diet Coke if you’ve got it,” Vi replied as she sat down and made herself comfortable.

“MARIA!” Kennedy called as she poured the drink into a glass for Vi, “Sun’s almost down you better be heading home.

Moments later the Porta Rican maid appeared and wished everyone a good evening before heading out the door and the cab that would take her home before sundown.

“She’s a treasure,” Kennedy explained as she passed Vi her drink, “I’d hate to lose her to some random vamp.”

“Yeah,” Vi sipped her drink and eyed her friend in confusion; Kennedy could be really hard to get a read on, one minute she was ‘Queen Bitch’ the next she was all genuine concern and couldn’t do enough to help, sometimes it made Vi’s head hurt trying to keep up.

“So,” Kennedy derailed Vi’s train of thought, “what’s the what?”

“Oh! What?” Vi blinked and shook her head, “Sorry, yeah the Subway Vigilante…”

“Is that what they’re calling her,” Kennedy paused before adding, “or is it him?”

“Yeah,” Vi nodded, “you should read the papers or watch the news sometimes.”

“Oh you know me,” Kennedy gave a self deprecating laugh, “I always turn straight to the society pages.”

“Whatever,” Vi rolled her eyes, “the Subway Vigilante, I don’t think its one of our girls.”

“How come?” Kennedy placed her own drink on the table in front of the couch and gave Vi her undivided attention.

“On each of the nights there was a murder, all our girls were accounted for,” Vi explained.

“You sure?” Kennedy raised an eyebrow.

“As sure as I can be without using a truth spell,” Vi pointed out.

“Good enough,” Kennedy nodded; she didn’t want to believe it was one of the girls she was responsible for; that would be ‘awkward’.

“Also, and I got this straight from Kendra…” Vi saw the look of confusion on Kennedy’s face, “…you know, cute, cop, slayer?”

“Oh yes!” Kennedy smiled, “I’d really like to meet her, do you happen to know if…?”

“Keep y’mind outta y’pants, slut!” Vi laughed.

“Sooo not a slut,” Kennedy whined, “I just need a girlfriend who understands about slayers, y’know?”

“Whatever,” once again Vi gave an exaggerated eye roll, “as I was saying, Kendra tells me that there’s been no more evidence of superstrength. They’re now thinking ex-cop or ex-military…”

“For why?” Kennedy picked up and sipped her drink.

“Whoever it is can shoot like a…” Vi was stuck for a word to describe the Subway Vigilante’s shooting prowess, “…well he can really shoot.”

“Still could be a slayer,” Kennedy pointed out.

“Slayers and guns?” Vi shrugged, “Buffy Summers doesn’t approve of slayers with guns, neither does Mr Giles which is more important.”

“Neither of them patrol the streets of New York,” Kennedy pointed out, “if they did they might just see things differently.”

It hadn’t happened yet, but Kennedy lived in fear of one of ‘her’ girls being gunned down by some drugged up gang banger. Being super strong and fast was all well and good as long as your opponent didn’t have a gun and was out of reach.

“So not one of ours,” Kennedy said slowly; Vi shook her head in agreement, “okay, but I’m still going to tell the girls to be extra careful, who knows what trouble this Subway Vigilante will stir up.” Kennedy sighed heavily, “Is that all or can we get on with having some fun?”

“Yeah,” Vi smiled, “lets do the fun!”

0=0=0=0

**A Coffee Shop near the 8th Avenue Subway Station.**

Draining her coffee cup, Zoe made a show of taking out her wallet and selecting a bill from its overstuffed interior. Certain that the hooker one table over had seen all the cash and given the nod to the two black guys with her, Zoe placed the bill under the cup, got up and walked out of the coffee shop. Once out on the streets she turned to walk slowly towards the subway station. As soon as she was sure the two black guys were following her she picked up the pace a little, she really wanted to get in out of the cold rain.

Waiting at the curb to cross the road, Zoe turned her head slightly, yes, there they were about fifty yards behind her pretending to look in a shop window; they were probably watching her reflection. Seeing the lights had changed, Zoe crossed the rain wet street putting up the hood of her jacket as she did so. After walking along the sidewalk and once again checking that the black guys were still following she noticed them standing by the subway entrance on the opposite side of the road. Oh, Zoe smiled, she could see what they were doing. If she went down into the subway on this side of the road, they’d go down on theirs and come out in front of her. Cool, Zoe thought, she could deal, in fact it’d probably make her life easier.

Once down in the subway, Zoe walked along the long almost deserted walkway that led to the station proper. Sure enough there were her two shadows walking towards her. Looking around as if she was looking at one of the billboards that lined the tunnel, Zoe noticed that she was alone with her targets now, only a couple of street people sheltering out of the rain being visible. When she turned her head back to look where she was going she found the black guys standing right in front of her blocking her path.

“Got a match?” the younger of the two asked.

“My ass and your face, dickwad!” Zoe replied insolently.

“Why you…” the guy who’d spoken to her produced a knife.

“You guys never learn,” Zoe sighed sadly, “never bring a knife to a gunfight!”

“What ya…!” 

Three shots rang out in rapid succession, booming loudly in the confines of the tunnel. Shocked at the site of so much blood the first guy slumped to the floor; blood squirting from the holes next to his heart. His partner, however, had been standing at almost one-hundred-and-eighty degrees to his buddy and Zoe had to turn to bring her gun to bear. Unfortunately she wasn’t quite fast enough to shoot the guy or block his knife thrust. 

The blade sliced through her jacket and into her shoulder cutting her skin and making her bleed. Snarling angrily, more at herself for being so careless than at the mugger for knifing her, Zoe pushed the guy away from her. He sailed through the air until he hit the wall of the tunnel and slumped, semi-dazed to the ground. Raising her pistol Zoe managed to get off one shot winging the guy in the leg. Although hit he managed to get up and start to run towards the exit and safety. Just for a moment Zoe considered chasing after him, but the sound of running feet coming from behind her drove that idea from her mind.

Raising her arm, Zoe took careful aim at the fleeing figure and fired. The man stumbled on for a couple of more paces. Firing again she saw him fall, looking around Zoe heard the sound of running feet getting rapidly closer, she had to get out of here. Noticing a padlocked gate leading to some steps and up to the street above, she broke the padlock and slipped it and her gun into her pocket. Pulling open the gate she ran up the stairs and was out in the rain once more watching the traffic go by. 

Behind her she could hear the voice of what could only be a cop or a subway worker using their radio to call for more cops and an ambulance. Wincing as she felt the blood trickle down her back, Zoe crossed to the opposite sidewalk and headed off rapidly down the street as the first police cars arrived behind her.

0=0=0=0

**Zoe’s Apartment, later the same night.**

Looking in her bathroom mirror, Zoe examined the wound in her shoulder. It could have been a lot worse. The cut was about two inches long and not all that deep, with her slayer healing the edges of the cut would have bonded by tomorrow morning and she’d be totally healed by the end of the week. The scar would fade to nothing in a week or two after that. 

What was making her so angry was that she’d been careless letting that guy get behind her, he shouldn’t have been able to get within knifing distance of her. What had she been thinking, she asked herself, she was a freaking slayer the guy shouldn’t have been able to touch her let alone knife her. Sighing in resignation, Zoe admitted to herself that she’d got careless, she’d become complacent about hunting normal humans, she’d not seen them as a threat. But now…but now she would, from now on she’d be more careful, no swapping smart-ass comments with her prey. From now on as soon as she was sure they were out to rob her she’d gun them down, no more messing about talking to them. Also, maybe it was time to leave the subways alone for awhile; perhaps she should revisit her old hunting grounds in the park.

0=0=0=0

**The Subway Station on 8th Avenue.**

“You think its our perp?” Olivia asked as she stood over the body of the mugger who’d almost got away.

“No sexual injuries,” Elliot shrugged, “but it is his em-oh.”

“Looks like the vic got a piece of however it was,” Olivia pointed a latex covered finger at the knife still in the man’s hand, there was blood on the blade.

“I still think it’s a woman,” Elliot crouched down to join Olivia in examining the bloody blade.

“Or a short man pretending to be a woman,” Olivia pointed out.

“Oh yeah,” Elliot grinned, “the midget drag-queen theory…”

“Whatever the truth,” Olivia couldn’t quite suppress the smile that spread across her lips, “this blood will be our first real break in this case.”

After the first shooting in Central Park they’d found some cartridge cases, these had given a couple of partial finger prints, but they weren’t good enough to be of any real use. Since then the Subway Vigilante, as the press had dubbed the killer, had been careful not to leave prints on the cases when he or she loaded their weapon. The perp had also been very careful about covering his or her tracks; the CCTV forage collected from the subway stations had been frustratingly inconclusive.

Now they had the blood they might find the perp already in one of their many databases. Once they had a match it would be a simple job of tracking down the killer and arresting him…or her.

0=0=0=0


	7. Chapter 7

7.

**Captain Cragen’s Office, SVU.**

“…so what have we got so far?” Captain Cragen asked from behind his desk.

Glancing at Olivia and ADA Greylek before speaking, Elliot turned to look at Cragen.

“So far,” he began slowly, “we have eleven victims, all shot with the same .22 calibre pistol, all shot at least three time usually twice in the chest and once in the head…”

“Execution style,” Cragen commented.

“Every much so,” Elliot agreed before continuing, “five of the first seven victims were also shot or knifed in the genital area, since vic number seven there hasn’t been any genital mutilation.”

“Probably because the perp was interrupted…” Olivia explained.

“Or this isn’t actually a sex crime,” ADA Greylek pointed out.

“I’m inclined to agree with Ms Greylek,” Cragen pointed out, “I think the perp was just using the sexual element to throw us off track, what do we have on the victims?”

“All dead, all minor felons, mainly robbery with violence,” Olivia consulted her notes as she spoke, “all appear to have been picked at random.”

“Yes,” Dr George Huang spoke up for the first time, “although each attack was carried out to a precise and well practiced plan it seems the actual choice of victim was purely random.”

“Agreed,” Elliot nodded his head, “we couldn’t find any connection between the victims other than the fact that they’d all done time.”

“I suppose it would be too much to ask that they all did time together?” Cragen asked hopefully.

“Sorry Captain,” Elliot shrugged.

“Dr Huang,” Cragen turned his gaze to the FBI agent, “what do you make of our perp?”

“He’s driven by revenge, Captain,” Huang began, “I’d guess that a family member or members have recently been attacked and either killed or seriously injured, this guy is out for payback.” Huang paused for a moment as he considered his next words, “I’d guess that the perp is in his mid-to-late twenties, white and may have served in the military or is a member of a gun club.”

“You’re sure it’s a man?” Cragen asked.

“These sorts of actions would be very unusual for a woman…” Huang was about to say something else but Olivia didn’t give him a chance.

“Captain, what CCTV footage we have shows someone who’s very short for a man,” Olivia pointed out, “I think our perp is a woman.”

“Elliot?” Cragen turned to Olivia’s partner to see what he thought.

“Like, Liv,” Elliot began, “I think he’s too short for a guy, but like Huang says the M/O is unusual for a woman, and as for CCTV evidence,” Elliot threw some blow-ups of screen captures onto Cragen’s desk, “He, or she always manages to pick an area where the cameras are either damaged or down for repair. When he walks through an area where the cameras are working he, or she, keeps his head down and that hood up….”

“Look,” Kim Greylek stood up, “I don’t think this is a sex case Captain, I’d suggest you hand this one back to homicide, there’s real special victims out there that need our help.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you, Ms Greylek,” Cragen said with a heavy sigh, he hated to give up on a case; he noticed the disappointed looks on Olivia’s and Elliot’s faces, “Look, I’ll tell you what we’ll do, I’ll give you twenty-four hours,” Cragen pointed at his two detectives, “if you haven’t got a firm lead by then…”

Urgent knocking on the Captain’s door interrupted him, he called for whoever was trying to beat down his door to come in.

“Captain!” it was Detective Tutuola, “You’ll want to see this….”

“What have you got?” Cragen asked as he slowly got up from his desk and headed on out into the squad room after Fin.

“We got some CCTV footage,” Fin led the Captain and everyone else over to where the video display unit stood with Munch sitting at its controls, “looks like our perp screwed up, she got caught on candid camera.”

“She?” Huang asked much to his surprise and Olivia’s amusement.

“Here look,” Munch announced as he ran through the footage once more.

The slightly blurred black and white images showed the hooded figure of the perp being approached by two black youths. They seemed to spend a moment or two talking before the hooded figure shot the youth in front of her. The other youth had managed to get behind the shooter before she opened fire, it did him little good. The second youth stabbed the shooter in her shoulder. Moving with unbelievable speed that drew whistles of amazement from the watchers the woman hit the surviving mugger in the chest with her hand. The blow sent the man flying through the air until he hit the tunnel wall and slumped to the ground. Dazed the would-be mugger staggered to his feet only to get shot in the thigh. Limping and staggering the surviving mugger made off down the tunnel and out of camera shot. Still in view the detectives watched as the shooter raised her pistol and calmly fired again. Something seemed to distract the young woman because she didn’t chase off after her victim.

“This is where we think she musta heard the transit cops coming,” Fin pointed out.

“I’ll run this section through slowly,” Munch announced as he manipulated the player’s controls.

Watching closely they saw the perp turn towards the camera, for a moment she glanced up, she probably didn’t even realise she’d done it but for a second or two she was looking directly into the camera.

“My god!” Olivia gasped, “I know her, that’s Zoe Kersey, her mother and sister were raped and murdered a couple of months ago, we never caught anyone for it.”

“And now she’s out getting payback,” ADA Greylek said slowly, “I’d say that was a firm lead, I’ll get the warrants and you can go arrest her!”

0=0=0=0

**ADA Greylek’s office.**

Having set a new speed record for getting the arrest and search warrants sworn out, Kim Greylek was just about to head on back to SVU when a knock sounded on her office door.

“Come!” she called distractedly, looking up she saw a man in a smart business suit walk into her office.

“Ms Greylek?” he asked with a pleasant smile, Kim nodded in the affirmative, “I’m Mr Jones I work for the Mayor, I wonder if you wouldn’t mind coming with me?”

“Why?” Kim asked suspiciously.

“The Mayor would like a few words with you about the ‘Subway Vigilante’ case,” Mr Jones informed her.

“Well,” Kim smiled, “you can tell the Mayor that we know who the Vigilante is and SVU detectives are on their way to arrest her as we speak.”

“Her?” Mr Jones asked; Kim nodded, “Well, in that case why don’t you explain what’s happened to the mayor himself?”

0=0=0=0

**Zoe’s Apartment.**

“POLICE!” Elliot yelled after banging loudly on Zoe’s door, “WE HAVE A SEARCH WARRANT!”

When there was no reply to his challenge he nodded to the Swat officer standing next to him. In seconds the Swat Team had broken open the door and were rushing into the apartment. After a very few seconds the Swat Team proclaimed the apartment ‘clear’ and Elliot and Olivia walked in to start their search.

0=0=0=0

**The Mayor’s Office.**

After a drive down town notable only for its speed and the fact that Mr Jones hardly said a word throughout the journey, Kim found herself standing outside the Mayor’s office. Feeling a little like a naughty school girl waiting outside the Principal’s office she wondered what the hell was going on. Just as these thoughts were going through her mind the door was opened by the Police Commissioner no less and she was invited inside. Her surprise at finding the Police Commissioner playing doorman was compounded by the sight of the DA standing next to the Mayor over by the office’s window.

“ADA Greylek,” the Mayor smiled as he crossed the room with his hand held out to her.

“Mr Mayor,” Kim shook the Mayor’s hand, her head full to bursting point with questions like; what was so important that the Mayor wanted to speak to her?

“Kim,” the DA nodded to her before going to sit in one of the Mayor’s large, leather visitor’s chairs.

“The DA tells be you have a pretty good suspect,” the Mayor turned away from Kim and went back over to the window and looked out at the city.

“Yes, Sir,” Kim agreed, she glanced at her watch and smiled, “if everything is going according to plan we should have Zoe Kersey in custody about now. We’ve got CCTV footage of her shooting one victim and a blood sample off the blade of a knife that matches hers from another victim…” Kim smiled again, “…I’d say it was a slam-dunk case; she should go down for twenty-five to life.”

“So you’re sure this is the perp?” the Mayor asked slowly as he glanced over to where the DA sat saying nothing.

 

“Is there a problem, Mr Mayor?” Kim asked hesitantly, her warning radar was sending her brain frantic messages that all was not as it appeared.

“If this…” the Mayor turned to look questioningly at Kim.

“Zoe Kersey,” Kim supplied.

“…right, Zoe Kersey, is the Subway Vigilante,” the Mayor glanced over to where the DA sat before taking a deep breath, “We don’t want her.”

“What!?” Kim almost screamed the question but managed to keep control of her voice at the last moment, “What do you mean, ‘we don’t want her’? We’ve got her, what am I supposed to do with her?”

“Ms Greylek,” the Mayor spoke slowly as if it pained him to say the words coming out of his mouth, “on my desk I have statistics that show street crime has gone down by forty-eight percent…you understand Ms Greylek that not too many people know that?”

“I didn’t know that!” Kim turned to look at her boss but got nothing from him, she turned back to the Mayor, “And of course you want to keep it that way?”

“No, we _have_ to keep it that way, Ms Greylek,” the Mayor explained, “this entire city would explode. It's either that or we’d have people out on the street shooting anyone who looked at them sideways, you can see that surely?”

“I’m not sure that I do,” Kim replied slowly.

“We want this woman to quit, desist, go away, to stop!” The Mayor explained.

“So street crimes and vigilantism can go on in an upward spiral?” Kim wanted to know, “If I put her in prison where she belongs doesn’t that get her off the street?”

“Ms Greylek,” the Mayor sighed, “I don’t want a martyr on my hands, you know that if even one member of the jury has been mugged or has had a relative mugged you’re going to have a dead-locked jury…to be honest I think you’ve only got a fifty-fifty chance of a conviction here.”

“Alright, alright,” Kim knew when she was out-gunned; she might be out-gunned but she wasn’t defeated, perhaps she could turn the case over to Federal prosecutors. “So, what do you want me to do?”

“Scare her off, Ms Greylek,” the Mayor told her softly, “get Ms Kersey to disappear.”

“Scare her off?” Kim asked incredulously, “She’s killed at least eleven people that we know of and you want me to scare her off, get her to leave town?”

“Eleven ‘people’ who deserved to die,” the DA announced, “it was only a matter of time before one of them did something to get themselves shot or sent down for life.” The DA stood up slowly, “Kim,” he gave her a fatherly smile, “think of it this way, Zoe Kersey has saved the City a lot of work, time and money. She’s also probably saved the lives of several innocent citizens…in my book we should be throwing her a parade not asking her to leave.”

“If you say so,” Kim replied as she started to compose her letter of resignation in her head, “I’ll do what I can, Mr Mayor.”

“I won’t forget this Ms Greylek,” the Mayor called as Kim left his office.

0=0=0=0

**A Coffee Shop off Eighth Avenue.**

So, Zoe sipped her coffee, the cops were onto her at last; she’d wondered how long it would take them to track her down. She’d been careful but it didn’t matter how careful you were, you were always bound to make a mistake and get caught in the end, Zoe wondered idly where had she screwed up? Probably been spotted on a CCTV camera, she told herself. Although she’d been careful to keep away from areas with good CCTV coverage you couldn’t catch all of them. Plus there was the time the punk had stabbed her, the police had no doubt got her blood on the blade, it probably wouldn’t be difficult to track her down from that alone, given time.

Going back to her apartment that afternoon, Zoe’s slayer senses had gone into full alert mode as she’d climbed the stairs towards her home. Danger signals had started to go off in her head and she’d turned around and headed back down stairs and out the rear entrance. Walking out onto the street she’d been in time to see the detectives and the Swat Team running into the front of her building. Ignoring the activity on the street she’d turned away and walked briskly down the street for a block before hailing a cab. Taking the cab to Grand Central Station, she went to the luggage locker where she kept some money a spare pistol and ammunition.

Now it was dark, no doubt the police were still looking for her, she really should be on her way out of the city and heading for safety. But she couldn’t leave town without doing one last little ‘job’.

0=0=0=0

**’The Lake’, Central Park.**

It was now about ten-thirty, it was dark, cold and a thin, mist-like rain fell from a leaden sky, but Zoe didn’t mind, she was more interested in the two punks who were waiting for her at the bottom of the long flight of stone steps that led down to the path that ran around ‘The Lake’. As she got closer she smiled; would these idiots never learn? Here they were with the full knowledge that someone was out shooting muggers, they’d probably seen her picture on the TV news by now, but they still came out to rob some ‘defenceless’ girl. They didn’t deserve to live they were so stupid.

“Come on down, bitch,” the black mugger produced a knife while his white buddy just stood there grinning foolishly, “We gonna take you.”

Coming to a halt about six steps up from the muggers, Zoe regarded them dispassionately; her slayers senses weren’t even flashing any warnings to her brain.

“That’s right, bitch,” the white punk spoke for the first time as he too produced a knife, “and you can’t go back up either.”

Turning and looking back the way she’d come Zoe saw a third mugger come out of the shadows and stand at the top of the stairs, he held a revolver in his hand. Perhaps, Zoe admitted, these guys weren’t as stupid as she had at first thought. The muggers below her started to laugh believing they’d got their victim trapped.

“Come on down and bring us the money, honey,” the black guy rhymed badly.

“How much money you got, honey?” now the white guy was joining in; they really both deserved to die just for the bad poetry. 

Zoe’s calculations on who presented the greatest threat and thus would be the first to die were interrupted when the black guy moved. Seeing the glint of a knife reflected in the street lights, Zoe reacted. Pulling the pistol out of her pocket, she shot the black mugger in the forehead. Just as she was altering her aim to where the white guy was standing she felt a sharp pain in her upper left arm and moments latter she heard the gunshot from behind her.

Ignoring the pain she turned and fired at the mugger with the gun. Unsure if she’d hit him she saw him dodge out of the way. That only left the white guy with the knife; he’d run off behind a wall and was running for his life through the darkened park. Jumping the last few steps down to lake level, Zoe saw a shape moving rapidly away from her. Her slayer night vision easily identified the shape as the white mugger. Lifting her pistol, Zoe aimed and fired, she paused to watch the mugger fall before turning and heading off after the mugger with the revolver.

0=0=0=0


	8. Chapter 8

8.

**Central Park.**

As soon as Zoe turned to go after the last mugger she felt a bullet crack passed her head just before she heard the report of the gun. Lifting her own weapon she fired twice into the small cloud of gunsmoke about thirty yards away. No sooner had she fired that she saw the mugger jump up out of cover and start to run in the general direction of the Natural History Museum. Ignoring the ache in her arm Zoe gave chase quickly gaining on the mugger as she sprinted up the steps.

Pausing at the top of the stairs, Zoe didn’t at first see or sense the mugger as he hid behind a stone balustrade. When she did she started to turn to bring her weapon to bear, but she was too late. Firing wildly the gunman quickly emptied his weapon at her before jumping up and running for his life. Gasping with renewed pain, Zoe clamped her hand over the wound in her right thigh. Blood oozed between her fingers making her hand sticky; firing back, she saw her bullet fly wide of the mark.

“Damn-it!” Zoe gasped as she started to limp off after the mugger; she couldn’t afford to let him go, he’d seen her and would no doubt tell the police.

Not having covered more than a few yards, Zoe heard the sound of sirens closing in on her position. Standing there, uncertain of what she should do, Zoe had a stark choice; go after the mugger which would probably end in a confrontation with the police or turn around and run while the mugger escaped. As choices went it wasn’t much of one, shaking her head in disgust at not being able to kill the last mugger, Zoe turned and made her way back down the stairs towards the lake.

0=0=0=0

**Central Park West.**

Bringing her unit to a halt, Officer Kendra Young had switched off the engine and pushed open her door before her partner was half way out of his side. Pulling her sidearm, Kendra ran towards the park while her buddy, Officer Jack Miles, was calling in to control. Arriving at the top of the steps leading down to The Lake, she could smell the gunsmoke in the air, she could also smell blood. Looking down she saw a body lying at the foot of the stone stairs. Cautiously she started moving down the steps while scanning the vegetation between herself and the water for movement. Reaching the body without mishap she bent to check for a pulse. As she had suspected the guy was dead, looking closely she saw at least two cartridge cases lying glinting in the moonlight on the stairs, they looked like .22 rounds to her.

“Jack!” Kendra called up to her partner, “dis one’s dead…” the scent of blood assailed her noise, it was stronger than could be accounted for by just one body, “…hold on…I got another one!”

Moving off to her right Kendra checked the second body, it too was dead.

“Okay,” Kendra called to her friend, “you call dis in I’m goin’ to take a look around, wait here and be careful, okay?”

“Sure,” Jack replied, “an’ what are you goin’ to be doing while I’m sitting on my ass?”

“Oh,” Kendra smiled her strong white teeth flashing in the dark, “I’s goin’ to jus take a look around y’know?”

“Yeah I know,” Jack knew it was pointless trying to talk his partner out of anything when she grinned like that, “don’t get y’ass shot off!” He called into the night but Kendra was already gone.

0=0=0=0

Jogging along the path towards Strawberry Fields, Kendra noticed something on the road surface glinting in the light from the streetlights. Slowing she paused to examine what she’d seen; touching the substance with her finger she brought it up to her nose and sniffed, it was blood but not normal human blood. It smelt like her own blood, slayer blood.

“Damn-it!” Kendra cursed softly; she’d half suspected that the ‘Subway Vigilante’ was a slayer and now it looked as if her worst fears had been confirmed.

Gripping her weapon more tightly than before, Kendra strained her senses hoping to detect something of her quarry close by, she wasn’t to be disappointed. Hearing footsteps, she turned and started to run as fast as she dared. Her target had left the pathway and was heading off across the Sheep Meadow towards The Mall. Listening as she ran, Kendra could tell that the slayer she was chasing had been hit in the leg, her steps were uneven and every few steps she could hear a quiet moan of pain.

Over to her left Kendra could just see the Bandshell; coming to a halt she listened again. There were no more running footsteps, no more little cries of pain, the slayer had gone to ground. Diving to her left, Kendra narrowly avoided being hit by either of the two rounds sent in her direction. Rolling across the damp grass, she came up on one knee and fired two shots at the point where she’d seen the flash of the gun. Even slightly deafened, she could hear someone groaning in the bushes just to the right of the Bandshell.

“Okay!” Kendra called as she got to her feet, “Give it up its all over, don’t be stupid!”

Advancing on the prone body, Kendra watched for any hostile act over the top of her pistol; she didn’t want to have to kill a sister slayer but she would if she had to.

“Don’t!” Kendra warned as she saw the girl start to reach for the gun that had fallen from her hand.

“Okay,” Zoe groaned defeated, “I give up.”

Relaxing a little, Kendra noticed the sound of all the sirens moving towards the park and the shouts of her fellow officers as they started to search the park.

“Y’know, girl,” Kendra said as she raised her personnel radio to her lips, “I’ll probably get a commendation for this…why’d you do it? Vamps not enough for you girl?”

“Retribution,” Zoe replied quietly, “vengeance.”

0=0=0=0

**Mercy General Hospital, early morning.**

“How is she, Doctor?” Kim Greylek asked the surgeon who’d just come out of the prisoner’s room.

“Surprisingly well,” the doctor nodded, he knew Kim from previous meeting so was quite happy to talk about his patient’s health with her; particularly when the patient in question was the ‘Subway Vigilante’. “Considering she was shot three times I’d say her present condition is miraculous!”

“So it’s okay for me to talk to her?” Kim wanted to know.

“I don’t see why not,” the doctor shrugged; if all his patients were like that girl he’d soon be out of business, “to be honest we were just going to pump some more blood into her, keep her under observation for twenty-four hours and then, assuming there’s no complications I was going to release her to you.”

“Thanks Doctor,” Kim smiled her thanks before opening the door to Zoe’s room and walking in.

In the room Kim saw Zoe Kersey lying in bed, not looking very much the worse for wear after being shot three times. There was a nurse watching over the patient and a uniformed officer sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, he looked up questioningly at Kim.

“I’m ADA Greylek,” Kim announced and flashed her ID at the Cop, “would both of you mind waiting outside for a moment I need to speak to the prisoner alone.”

The cop raised an eyebrow and shrugged, if an ADA wanted him out of here who was he to argue. Collecting up the nurse by eye he opened the door and followed the nurse into the corridor. After making sure that the door was firmly closed, Kim pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down.

“So, we caught you at last, Ms Kersey,” Kim began; Zoe kept quiet she wasn’t saying a word until her attorney arrived. “You don’t have to say anything just listen.” Kim took a deep breath, “I have enough evidence to put you away for the rest of your life, Ms Kersey.”

Zoe turned her head to watch Kim impassively.

“But that’s not what’s going to happen,” Kim continued with a sigh, “for reasons of their own, important people have decided that this case is never going to come to trial.”

For a moment Zoe almost panicked, were they going to just make her ‘disappear’? Did that sort of thing happen in the United States? After a moment she smiled faintly, of course she had friends of her own; even after all she’d done they wouldn’t look kindly on people who made slayers disappear.

“So this is what’s going to happen,” Kim explained, “sometime in the next forty-eight hours you’re going to escape. Don’t worry there’ll only be one officer on duty at anytime and you won’t be handcuffed to your bed…after all you’re seriously injured. All the evidence against you will mysteriously vanish, the outstanding warrants on you will be lost in the system, we won’t even freeze your bank accounts…a clerical error.”

Lying on her bed Zoe frowned as she wondered what the hell was going on here.

“You’re a rich young woman, Ms Kersey,” Kim continued, “and I expect that you’ll want to go to college soon…I hear there’s a lot of very good colleges on the West Coast.” Kim paused for a moment as she watched Zoe process everything she’d been told. “The City of New York will not pursue you, however if you _ever_ come back all the evidence and warrants against you will miraculously reappear and you _will_ spend the rest of your life in prison, do I make myself clear, Ms Kersey?”

Zoe said not a word, she’d killed eleven people and the City was going to let her get away with it?

“Do we have a deal Ms Kersey?” Kim asked as she stood up.

Zoe nodded her head.

“We never want to see or hear from you again, Ms Kersey,” Kim reiterated, “we want you to get out of town forever.”

“By sundown?” Zoe said quietly a ghost of a smile on her lips.

0=0=0=0

**Kennedy’s Apartment, a day or so later.**

Picking up the newspaper, Kennedy re-read the headlines for about the hundredth time; ‘SUBWAY VIGILANTE ESCAPES FROM HOSPITAL!’ it read. Putting down the paper she looked at her friend and confidante who was sitting on the couch facing her.

“How did we not see this happen, Vi?” Kennedy asked.

“Zoe was a good liar?” Vi suggested, “Who’d suspect a slayer of going on a killing spree like that?”

“I certainly didn’t,” Kennedy agreed; even as she spoke she was starting to regain some of her self assurance, after all if no one else had seen it coming how could anyone expect her to have seen it?

“At least she only shot muggers and such,” Vi pointed out, deep down inside she was actually glad that Zoe had got away.

“She took a couple of shots at Kendra,” Kennedy pointed out.

“Yeah,” Vi agreed, “but I’m sure she didn’t mean to….”

“Whatever,” Kennedy walked over and sat down next to Vi on the couch, “but lets not let something like this happen again, huh?”

“Right,” Vi replied with a firm nod of the head, “note to self; don’t let slayers go ‘round shooting New York low-life.”

“I don’t think you’re taking this seriously,” Kennedy pointed out, “but then again you don’t have to face Mr Giles.”

“Oh god yes!” Vi cried out, “Sorry, I’d forgotten he’s coming over to find out what went wrong.”

“Well, we’ve got nothing to fear,” Kennedy reassured her friend, “we just need to tell the truth and if that doesn’t work I’ll bribe him!”

“Bribe Mr Giles,” Vi giggled, “he’d never….”

“Everyone has their price,” Kennedy replied darkly, “but joking apart, we must do better in future, no more vigilante slayers, okay?”

“Okay!” Vi agreed, “Now can we talk about something that’s more fun?”

0=0=0=0

**LAX, three weeks later.**

Collecting her backpack from the luggage carousel, Zoe walked through the airport terminal and smiled, she was home free. The ADA had been true to her word, breaking out of hospital had been almost insultingly easy and the police pursuit half-hearted. No one had touched her bank accounts, but she’d moved them just to be safe and she’d changed her identity; it was amazing what large amounts of money could achieve.

Now she was in LA she was looking forward to three years at UCLA and moving into her new apartment. Then there were all the beaches, clubs to try out plus all those West Coast boys. Life looked good. As she walked across the concourse towards the taxi rank, a small disturbance caught her eye. Stopping she watched as four teenagers surrounded a woman loaded down with luggage and two small children. They danced around the woman making her drop her bags and clutch hold of her kids in fear. 

Arriving at the scene at the same time as airport security, Zoe helped the woman retrieve her fallen bags. As she knelt to pick up a parcel, Zoe watched as the security guys herded the youths out of the terminal. The teenagers still shouted obscenities even as they were pushed towards the door. Making a gun shape out of her thumb and forefinger, Zoe pointed her hand at the youths and smiled. It looked like her stay in LA wouldn’t be all fun and college; there was work for her to do here too.

THE END.


End file.
